Sweet!

Disabled American Veterans (DAV), the non-profit organization dedicated to helping wounded veterans, will be honored by a special flyover of two vintage B-25 Mitchell bombers at the 2009 Indianapolis 500 Mile Race on Sunday, May 24.

. . .
While modern military aircraft are standard for such flyovers, IMS chose the venerable B-25 "War Dog" as a symbol of the courage and can-do spirit of our veterans and active duty military throughout history.

I like this. I like this a lot.

Torture...

Who believes any of those children actually want to meet Joe Biden? Seriously?

I'm skipping the monthly lecture to the serfs--technical difficulties, mein Führer, the rabbit ears seem to have been disconnected...

Kathy Shaidle: "Difference between Obama blathering on and on, and waterboarding, is that waterboarding gave us important information..."

Whoops.

I have to have a background check done by the FAA, including my travel and associations for the last seven years, fingerprints, and mental health records. It's not the same as a military clearance, but it seems almost as invasive. I completely understand the national security implications of letting the wrong people have access to technical data about aviation electronics (look what happens when you let untrustworthy individuals have access...).

...but DHS has already declared me a threat to national security, so this could end badly.

(I'm not actually against immigration; I'm against illegal entrance into the country and illegal residence regardless, but apparently that makes me just as bad.)

Semi-related, I finally got a paycheck and picked up the Mark Levin book; what sort of trouble will I be courting if I take it on my flights this weekend? I'm still in the "rise" part of The Rise And Fall of the Third Reich, but it's got a swastika on the cover, and I don't have the time/funds to deal with hypersensitive open-minded tolerance, so I haven't been taking it in public places. Sigh.

Announcement

I hearby declare myself the leading migrant button-pusher on climate change.

Please e-mail me if you need a sound bite.

PSA

May 11-17 is American Craft Beer Week. Have a Cow, man (except Amy :)

Still looking for good NY beers. I hit the Sunday Blues Brunch at the Empire Brewing Company a week ago; the food was good, the hefe-weizen was acceptable, and the waitress's entire chest was covered with black tattoos. I'll return, but perhaps not with my parents.

I have no idea how I missed Sackets Harbor Brewing Co. on Saturday. *mutter*

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.

Heh!

Graphic from the J-S Online.

They miss me.

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?

Huh.

Newton's really changed since the last time I drove through central Iowa. I don't remember any sort of mountains there...



No word on whether or not Obama apologized to the Newtonians for not speaking Canadian.

UPDATE: Sweet Michelle's biceps, it gets worse:

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.

Quote of the Indeterminate Time Period

"American Revolutionary history...porn for conservatives!!!"

Celebrate Diversity!

except veterans, small-business owners, practicing Catholics, gun owners, talk-radio listeners, tea-party attendees, Texans, smokers, limited-government proponents, pro-lifers, taxpayers, NASCAR fans, Boy Scouts, oil-company employees, secure-border advocates, capitalists, global-warming agnostics, Cuban refugees, school-choicers . . .

He forgot meat eaters, people who don't want their health care rationed by a bureaucrat, beer drinkers, women who choose to have more than one child with a husband instead of by serial casual sex partners, anyone living outside an urban area especially in "undesirable" areas like the South and Midwest, and people who get migraines from !#*&!&! fluorescent light bulbs.

Well this is interesting...

The Obama administration is again delaying implementation of a rule that would require government contractors to verify the immigration status of their employees. Contractors won’t have to use the Homeland Security Department’s E-Verify system until June 30, according to a Federal Register notice published Friday.

The really interesting part is there were only six results when I searched Google News for "Obama e-verify", and they were publications dealing solely in government or HR news (I learned about it from an e-mail from NumbersUSA). Either the MSM hasn't picked it up--note it was released on a Friday, for maximum disinterest--or no one thinks it's worth reporting. I'll check back tomorrow.

Plaintiffs in the court case, which includes the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, argue the rule violates the law by requiring government contractors to use a system that is voluntary for other employers.

Haven't we already seen this with TARP? If you want that sweet gubbament money, you gotta dance for it. Granted, these businesses are provided actual products or services for their money, but I'm sure they make custom arrangements to please customers every day.

Plaintiffs also claim the rule is too vague and will force contractors to verify all employees to avoid potential suspension and debarment, which would be a financial hardship.

I'm not sure where they pulled that from, as the law says very plainly that only new hires after the date--now June 30--should be verified. Sneak 'em in now, boys. Businesses shouldn't have to enforce the laws, the laws should be enforced at the border and by police at all levels--but I don't believe this is a real motivation.

Quasi-related, here's a sob story from a mainstream newspaper about a citizen "forced" to seek welfare after her illegally-resident Haitian husband was deported, 16 years after entry. I'm having a hard time mustering up sympathy--she had a choice whether or not she married and had babies with this specific man, she chose to not work while knowing her husband could be deported, etc.

OTOH, I want to know when he "applied for asylum" because if it's taking 16 years to decide asylum cases, that's too long. Since the guy left Haiti, Clinton deposed Aristide, then he came back, then he was permanently exiled, then his friend was elected...the outcome could have been different at any point. I suspect he only applied after an earlier investigation into his status.

"Deportation is no different than any law enforcement action,'' said Steven Camarota, director of research at the Center for Immigration Studies. "If people are not self-sufficient as a consequence of a spouse breaking the law, that's not a good reason not to enforce the law.''

(I was going to imagine what our cities would be like if it was, but they're mostly not married...nevermind.)

And finally--Ace writes up this sort of phenomenon as "government program works as designed, media outraged":

Recently, the mother of two [a different mother] went to Family Central to get state assistance for child care. She was denied, she said, because the agency determined she earns too much as a medical assistant.

Yeah, damn shame you can't take advantage of a program designed for people less able to help themselves than you are. She then goes on to bitch about student loans and credit card debt. I can be sympathetic about the loans to a point--Did she take out extra to buy a cool laptop? Did she go to the local community college or a swank private school? Did she really need the degree for her job? If the loans are through the feds, did she ask for a hardship deferment?--but credit cards? That's all on you, honey. You used the items or enjoyed the meals or whatever with the understanding that you'd be expected to pay for them at some point...and now you want other people to pay for your childcare so you can make those payments? Grow up.

Further, note the article doesn't mention any men who can't function after their wives are deported. It would be interesting to know why this is--could they find none? Does the public not feel the same sympathy for men who make dumb choices?

(Full disclosure: I racked up five figures of CC debt traveling and buying stuff when I was in grad school, then spent the next five years being broke and trapped and bored to tears while every spare penny went to paying it off. So I understand how CC debt is crippling, but I also understand it's a choice people make. And my student loans were about the size of a house downpayment--but again, that was my stupid choice. You'll notice I don't complain about repayment, only about the ways government wants to manipulate the housing market and the economy, and tax my wages, ensuring I'll never be able in the future to save up a down payment or find a monthly repayment I can afford on my one--when I have a job, I'm seriously exploring fields that can't be offshored--income. Sigh.)

Looks like I got out just in time.

Getting kind violent on the North Shore. Eh, I'm still going back.

Update: Work is good so far, I'm learning useful new things. I've joined a gym so I can keep lifting weights, and I'm signed up for an amateur adult art class in two weeks. Not much time for political blogging--can barely keep up with the reading. This might just be a geology/history blog for awhile. I got a lot out of the Wisconsin version of Roadside Geology, so I bought the NY version.

Look, Lake Ontario!

There appears to have been a tea party out here, but the headlines go to Gov. Paterson deciding New York should have gay marriage (if you click on that tea party photo...I really hate seeing people staple stuff to an American flag. Disrespectful. Bah.).

...and the sales tax is 8%. WTF. Well, if my brother can spend a year in Iraq, I can spend six months in New York. :P

...and while I'm complaining

Some Communist git I know in real life told me I have "really bought a load of shit from the teabaggers." (I assume that's the tolerant open-mindedness they publicly congratulate themselves for having.)

Meanwhile, I'm at least 600 miles away from anyone who cares about me so I can earn a wage, most of which is going to be siphoned by government and given to people who can't even be bothered to read the paperwork after they've lied on mortgage application forms.

It must be really nice to have no sense of responsibilty.

Irony...

The Daily Kos has noticed that the Sadr militia--I assume the same Sadr militia that Kos support in their effort to liberate Iraq from evil imperialist soldiers from that hellhole of Christofascist gay oppression, the U.S., but please tell me if there is more than one Sadr militia--are torturing and killing gay men in Iraq.

Unsurprisingly, they are willfully clueless about the "why." Apparently it's W's fault, because everyone loved gay men when Saddam Hussein was in power. *blink*

OK.

I'm ready to go home now. *sigh*

Adventures With Bratwurst

Greetings from the land of bitter clingers! I-80 through western/central PA is probably very beautiful when it's not fogged over, and when there are leaves.

I can't take pictures of myself, so I brought a stand-in:



Had a good time in Ohio with Grandpa and his orange cats. Tomorrow, Syracuse.

On the road...

Going to spend a few days with my grandfather in Ohio before ending up in Syracuse to start work.

I'm really bummed about quasi-leaving Milwaukee, and not completely because Satan's Little Helper is staying here with his new best friend.