Huh?

Someone found a need to graph the number of bars to the number of grocery stores across the U.S.

I'm not sure I understand the purpose of this measurement, since Froot Loops and "something to do on Saturday night" are completely different commodities. And in rural areas, it's not a big deal to make a weekly trip many miles, possibly to a different county *gasp* for provisions, but it's kind of a drag to drive an hour to hang out and have a beer. So a county without the population to support a grocery store has a bar? HORROR!

But it does confirm my suspicion that the reporters at the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel who keep writing the "Wisconsin's unique (and shameful!!1!) drinking culture" tripe have never lived anywhere else.

This evening I am responsibly enjoying a single bottle of beer at home. I am doing nothing immoral, I am endangering no one, and I paid a buttload of state taxes for the privilege. Anhedonic fascists pretending to care about "health" as it relates to alcohol are cordially invited to go [verb] yourselves. Feel free to live a dry, joyless existence, as is your right, and stop interfering with my right to choose the opposite, mm-kay?

Your choices are unacceptable

A couple of places today I read the NY Times story about how people ordered more calories at fast-food restaurants after the nannies mandated the calorie information for menu items be displayed prominently.

...this just means the anhedoniacs who demand everyone live as joylessly as they do are going to push government to restrict menus.* Restaurants will be the next industry to be legislated into bankruptcy and/or government (GM isn't an exact analogy, as McDonald's has avoided being targeted by SEIU...but CAFE standards and cafe standards....), after the medical industry is destroyed.

And so, an anecdote. In a major fail I do not wish to talk about, I spent a day in August trapped at JFK airport, in Queens**. After standing in line for five hours, I was able to drag my carcass into a chain restaurant for a burger and a beer.

It took me 15 minutes to figure out what all those three-digit integers on the beer list meant.

The put the freaking calorie counts on the BEER LIST.

Obviously, this had no impact on my order. I would drink store brand beer from a can before I would order MGD64 (nasty AND weak), and diet soda is not beer. As it was, I had to settle for a Sam Adams, as the airport franchise did not have the bountiful taps of the standalone franchise I visit most frequently.

Beer is full of B-vitamins, and there have been numerous studies showing that one serving daily has some health benefits. And trapped in an airport, I was in no danger of driving. But the empty totalitarians were trying to scare me away from it. Don't believe for a minute it's about health--it's only about control.

* I'm thinking of donut speakeasies. You know the password, they'll sell you a donut, regardless of your BMI.

** Side note: They apparently "went green" by completely removing the HVAC; particularly repugnant in August at an international airport with frequent flights from cultures that do not value soap or deodorant.

It's worse than I thought.

I'm pretty much Bob here (except I couldn't find a quote in WI less than $420/mo, even explicitly requesting pregnancy not be included, and that's waaaaaaay more than I spend out of pocket in a year)--I'm going to be fined a couple months' rent and still have no health insurance (which is not the same as "no health care"...but that confisicated money would certainly come in handy when I see a doctor or a dentist, assholes).

Worse, if I start making more money and decide to purchase health insurance, insurers won't be allowed to sell it to me. The public option is the ONLY option.*

How the hell am I a criminal requiring punishment for not purchasing a product no one is legally allowed to sell to me?!

I got "unfriended" on Facebook this week when I pointed out to someone complaining that his doctor's office charged him for filling out and mailing some paperwork that office overhead needed to process his request--the woman who took his call, the woman who dug out his records (and/or the computer system that holds his records--for a one-doc practice, that software run high six-figures) and copied his info into the form, the phone, the copier, the electricity, the postage to mail his paperwork, not to mention the malpractice insurance--was not free. Apparently this guy is one of those assholes who thinks doctors and their staff should be providing their services to him for free, at a loss to themselves.

And that's where I'm getting stuck. How did we get to a point where everyone believes they deserve free services at a loss to everyone else, and believes punishing people who don't want to pay other people's way is just?

*Now taking bets on how long it will be before hospitals and clinics are legally forbidden from seeing uninsured patients in exchange for cash, thereby forcing everyone into buying the public option or leaving the country to be seen (or, in case of an emergency, being left to die on the street). If I was a doc with a private practice, I would totally be financing an MRI machine and relocating to the Bahamas.

So much for creating or saving

Congress steps up to deliver another job-killing, economy-stifling totalitarian regulatory bill to The Won for signing--and it will be pushed through partially-read so Nancy and Barry aren't late for their vacations, like that $787B fail in February was.

Imagine trying to explain to any Founder that the government is going to fine him percentage of his income unless he purchases a specific product (...and some of them will be fined anyway for the crime of "household income over the NFL league minimum").

Compare, contrast.

From last week: Michelle Obama lies with impunity to gin up fear about the "obesity crisis" among children, so we all feel warm and fuzzy about her husband and Congress taking over every aspect of our lives, right down to what we're allowed to feed our own children.

From the weekend: Michelle's husband and children eat ice cream.

Other than their father being crowned a god-king by the American media, how are Sasha and Malia any different from any other child in America?

I suppose this isn't any different than sending the children to private schools while insisting other parents should not be allowed that choice...I'm no longer fazed by self-appointed aristocracy living lives they would forbid everyone else--restrictions on food and fuel, sumptuary laws for the 21st century--but I'm getting more and more fed up with the people who clamor to be ruled by these tyrannical hypocrites. The hell is wrong with you people?!?! Can you honestly not see what they're doing here?!?

President Rimmer

So this afternoon I read Jim Geraghty's posts about Obama promising to sit down and have tea with Achmadinejad despite the regime's wholesale election fraud and slaughter of protesters (that second linked post is particularly disturbing). Then I was looking up some quotes from Red Dwarf, and found the following:

Rimmer: Look, just because it's an armor-plated alien killing machine that salivates unspeakable slobber, doesn't mean it's a bad person. What we've got to do is get it round a table, and put together a solution package, perhaps over tea and biscuits.

So I looked up the scene, and holy crap, O really is Rimmer (the guy with the metal H on his head, for those of you unfamiliar with the awesomeness that is Red Dwarf):



Scary shit.

Gather ye Timbits while ye may

I've been too depressed to blog lately, because everything I do has an undercurrent of "this will be the last summer I get to do this." Eat donuts, drive in a car on a Sunday while listening to podcasts of radio shows, eat at small local diners, have a beer when I get home...

Everything I do is about to be outlawed, fined, or taxed until it no longer exists.

But according to the people making these changes, if I wanted to have unprotected sex with a different stranger every night, that would be my right as an American, and the government should provide me with all the antibiotics, anti-depressants, HIV cocktails, I might need (and free housing, food, education, and medical care for any spawn). WTF!?

It's like a badly-written dystopian sci-fi, except it's all real.

Off to Wegmans for more Harpoon.

How...imperial.

Remember when the Taliban destroyed pre-Islamic Buddha statues so future generations wouldn't know there was any religion in Afghanistan before Mohammed, and liberals were (rightly) outraged at "erasing" history so it wouldn't interfere with official government propaganda?

White House Permanently Deletes Bush-Era Twitter Archive

Presumably, destroying White House records violates some sort of law about national archives, but hell, no one cared when Clinton officials did it, so why start now?

The actual content has been permanently erased. So if you're a Communication scholar or historian studying early Presidential uses of social media technologies, you're screwed. Because fuck you that's why.

I've been wondering what it will be like to be an historian in a hundred years--if they will mistakenly think the contemporary newspapers are a reliable primary source of information about 2009 (especially "papers of record" like that NY Times) because that's what they learned from their historical research methods professors. The media's [insert sexual metaphor here, I'm too tired to think one up] of Obama and the Marxist left is going to have repercussions well past our lifetimes, even if they don't manage to "completely remake America" over in the next 3.6 years.

Backlash

Andrew Breitbart:

Unless the gay community polices itself better and registers its displeasure against these pitiful and selective acts of political retribution, many tolerant Americans who hold the same beliefs on marriage as Mr. Obama and the Dalai Lama are going to begin to register their displeasure at the voting booth and through consumer boycotts against those who employ or support the thuggish tactics of Perez Hilton and his ilk.

I'm already there (too bad I don't matter, eh?). The tipping point was the hatred spewed against Christians, "breeders", and old people, in celebration of the Iowa Supreme Court ruling. I refuse to tolerate bigotry and toddlerific tantrums.

Oh, and "Islam is a religion of mercy." Note the hermaphrodite being abused by police is wearing a cross necklace. I find that interesting.

Saturday

If I had known before today that Hank Aaron was in Cooperstown yesterday, I'd have gone there. The Hall of Fame is in my queue of things to do, along with the Farmers Museum, but I promised someone I'd save it until he could visit. Ho-hum.

Where I did go was Sackets Harbor, to the Seaway Trail Discovery Center, where I picked up promotional literature for places all around Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence Seaway and learned to always have my passport with me if I head north, since a lot of the islands are Canada. There is also a battlefield from the War of 1812, but the barracks and other buildings are closed until June (like most everything I want to see...).

There was also an exhibition about a Dutch woman named An Keuning-Tichelaar, who was part of the Dutch Resistance to the Nazis. As a Mennonite, she would do no violence, but she hid Jews in her house, smuggled ration books, and other errands. After the occupation was over, she cared for Ukranian refugees fleeing Communist persecution of Christians. The exhibition was centered around quilts made by Mennonites in North America to help these refugees, some of which An saved after the refugees left to resettle in Paraguay.

The quilts were unremarkable as quilts; they were mostly vehicles for the story, which seems kind of timely all of a sudden.

On the way home, I stopped at Robert G. Wehle State Park, along Lake Ontario. Its namesake was an artist and dog breeder who donated his estate to New York for a park. I got some nice pictures of Lake Erie, but I have a feeling you need a boat for the really stunning pictures of the limestone cliffs. Also collected some fossils aggregated in sandstone, and made a note to pick up my "Wildflowers of Eastern North America" book when I fly home next weekend.

Today I'm staying inside covered in aloe vera. I hate spring, summer, and sunlight.

Happy Lenin's Birthday!

A day of action to save the earth from farmers, ranchers, mining, timber, oil, chemical companies, and anyone else who seeks to utilize the earth's resources to enhance, enrich, and extend the lives of Americans and others worldwide.

Unrelated, but sparked by the People's Cube, why the hell does Michelle Obama wear so many clown bows? And not just when she's pretending she knows how to work a shovel...see here and here and here. Why on earth would any middle-aged woman want to dress like a John R. Neill illustration of Dorthy of Oz?

Holocaust Rememberance Day

I've been listening to the Syracuse classical music station (don't ask, I don't know) in the car and at night. Tonight they've been playing songs from composers killed in concentration camps, including the premiere American performance of Marcel Tyberg's Symphony No. 3. Tyberg left all his hand-written scores with a student before he was carted off to be killed; this particular symphony had to be copied from the originals to be performed.

I don't know enough about symphonic music to give an informed opinion, but I'm enjoying it. And enjoying a beer, in anticipation of being dragged off to Right-Wing Extremist/Planet-Destroying Fattie Death Camp. Sigh.

Basketball and business

BERKELEY, Calif. – Iowa State used a furious 8-0 run over the final 1:10 to defeat Michigan State, 69-68, and advance to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Championships for the second time in school history. The Cyclones improve to 27-8 overall, tying the school record for wins which was set in 1998-99, the school’s other Elite Eight season.

Tonight's game against Stanford is on Sirius. If I listen, they'll lose, just like the only other game I caught on Sirius this year. :P

I'm still cranky that Sirius/XM won't make baseball available on Sirius receivers; I have to activate my old XM receiver--I switched to get NFL games, back before they merged (XM receivers will get NFL games). But I'm considering it a fee for leaving Milwaukee during baseball season. :P

Maybe Obama will tell Sirius-XM how to run their business and save me $4.99/mo. *snort* Probably won't be able to fit it in between retreats/television appearances.

I've been reading The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich. Last night I got to the part where newly-named Chancellor Hitler called the heads of the big corporations into his office--after they had supported the Nazis in the most recent election--and told them how it was going to be in Germany from then on. Eerie.

"Conceptual clarity is not mobthink's strong suit"

Armchair psychology is dangerous, especially among the untrained, but I don't think you need to be Dr. Sanity to see unhealthy, damaged people projecting their own distorted realities onto others in this article about being harassed for donating to the Prop 8 movement. If you seriously believe some woman you've never met has personally denied you your "single chance at happiness"* by supporting a political movement, seek professional help.

(I also like her collages.)

* OK--it's fun to the melodramatic center of the world from time to time and I've indulged in it myself. But if the condition persists and you don't start taking care of your own business instead of blaming everyone else, your misery is your own damn fault. Filed under "things I wish I would have figured out about fifteen years before I finally did."

Hrm...

In the spirit of fairness, I note that Obama "rejected his transportation secretary’s suggestion that the administration consider taxing motorists based on how many miles they drive instead of how much gasoline they buy."

Good call.

But don't forget, Obama changes positions more often than Jenna Jameson (Jamison? I'm not going to Google to check the spelling, I'm trying to eat breakfast). Also, he objects to the tax-on-mileage, not to GPS units in private vehicles reporting to the government (hmm...why aren't there GPS units in government-owned vehicles, as a means to prevent/prosecute government employees abusing public resources?).

And individual states are still considering the scheme.

Speaking of hypocrisies

The CIA wanting to listen to the overseas phone calls you place to numbers known to be connected to terrorists, to glean information that could save American lives, was a fascist invasion of your privacy.

State and federal governments tracking your every move so they can charge you money--no problem!

Another blow for restaurants, gas stations, speciality retail small businesses as people stop non-essential travel like "shop hops" and "scenic drives" and "visiting Aunt Ethel". Then we'll have to tax something else to make up for the missing income taxes, and to give more people more government assistance.

And who knows what sort of restrictions will be placed on vehicle use once Al Gore's devotees get their hands on the government's data?

And no, I don't believe those are "unintended" consequences.

(As soon as I get a job, I'm going to visit any remaining quilt shops in WI and buy something at each one. Not that I need any more fabric, but I can always use more thread.)

Heh heh.

Mark Steyn describes Judd Gregg as "freakishly scandal-free."

I got an e-mail this morning noting that there are more convictions per capita in Congress than in either the NBA or the NFL.

Well. We are all illiterate fascists now. I expect the government to assign me to a job shortly. And I'll probably go, because I don't have anything better to do during the days.

Barack Obama hates fat people.

I knew it!

Newsbusters link
Fatosphere link (they're mostly Obamatrons, so I'm surprised anyone took the time to criticize the pick)

It's bad when even Paul Krugman calls you out.

The good news is they won't have to line me up against a wall and shoot me during the Great Enlightenment (hee!) at re-education camp--after a week of eating nothing but an Obama/Gupta-approved diet I'll kill myself.

(My mother once signed me up for "Lighten up Iowa", a government weight-loss program. So I made Iowa X pounds lighter by moving. Heh!)

2012 watch

Bobby Jindal was in Iowa yesterday and didn't say anything too objectionable...

The governor said technology such as television and the Internet are conduits for corrupting children, which he also believes is an issue agreed upon across party lines.

"As governor, I can't censor anything or take away anyone's freedom of speech - nor do I want to if I could," he said, "but I can still control what my kids watch, what they hear and what they read."

ZOMG, parenting his own kids! No wonder Democrats hate him.

A nice change from the Tipper Gore/Hillary Clinton "censorship for the children!" meme.

White middle class hegemony now OK!

Two things strike me about the vociferous defenders of Obama's plan to force teenagers to "volunteer" (you're not a volunteer if you're being forced). First is their obvious disregard for anachronisms like the 13th Amendment, which forbids forced unpaid labor except as a punishment. Everyone in the dextrosphere has discussed this one at length.

But second--the loudest supporters are middle-class educated white people who have chosen to do volunteer work on their own, or been required to do it by their wealthy suburban high school. Comments like "it's good because it gets your selfish lazy spoiled teen's ass off the couch" are endless (projecting, I assume; the only time I ever got to sit on a couch as a teen was when I was sick or babysitting past bedtime).

Now, I'm only doing cursory research, and anyone who is an expert in these things can update/correct me in the comments please, but what I'm finding online is that in the past ten years, nationally only about 50% of black males who enroll in high school graduate. The reported dropout rate in Milwaukee public schools ranges from 45-55%; I found one source who puts it at 51% for black students and 54% for Hispanic students (the data is six years old, but I don't think rates have improved enough to invalidate my conclusions).

Put yourself in the position of a black teenager who already thinks school is a bullshit waste of time when you can make decent money dealing drugs. Or a teenage mother fitting in school around work and childcare, or an immigrant teen expected to work at the family business, or for wages to help with family expenses.

How on earth does forcing these teenagers into unpaid labor, even an hour or two a week, help these kids choose to stay in school? We can argue about the value of an MPSD diploma, but nationwide the unemployment rate for blacks without a HS diploma seems to be double the rate for those with. Studies are showing that blacks with a HS diploma are incarcerated at a lower rate than those without. Why on earth would anyone want to make it even more attractive for at-risk students to drop out?? Much less the people who claim to care about these students' futures??*

And why am I the only person thinking about it from this angle?

I'll grant that the few students who get into a "volunteer" program where they can be successful at something that isn't menial (Is anyone uplifted by being good at picking up garbage? Can students who don't read well be happy being forced to read to old people?) can get a self-esteem boost or a career goal out of it, but a) they could get that from paid work, plus a paycheck helps other areas of their lives and b) I suspect the students who will be successful at their forced labor will be the ones who are successful at school anyway. I'm extrapolating from my rural cracker experience--the stoners didn't pick up trash on the highway, the National Honor Society did.

All my adult life I've been told it's racist and morally wrong to expect blacks, especially poor blacks in big cities, to adopt white middle-class social values that might improve their lives. Teh hegemony!!11! Teh cultural insensitivity!!11! But suddenly, it's acceptable to force a white middle-class "value" that could have a detrimental effect on their lives.

Not a change we need.

* My objection to making dropping out more attractive to at-risk students by increasing non-academic requirements doesn't negate my loathing of "No Child Left Behind" and the dumbing down of curricula, which shafts capable students. Some people just aren't equipped to be scholars; they should be offered vocational training. Everyone's competent at something.