Strange bedfellows

The Teamsters are protesting a Democrat tax-hike in New York. Merely self-preservation; I'm sure the overall point about crushing taxes destroying jobs will be lost before the next election. Note also that the Republicans were not invited to budget negotiations.

Paterson did relent on the 118% increase on beer taxes, down to a 27% increase, but apparently it's no big deal for InBev to move production to New Hampshire. I don't drink Budweiser, but if they close that'll affect the distributors, and I need them, especially the importers. The Beer Map already looks bleak.

"Even flushing yourself down the toilet of history is trickier than it looks."

Literal bathroom reading at Radishhof--Mark Steyn's NR piece on the death of Europe and the Europeanization of America is now online.

Key graf:

When the state “gives” you plenty – when it takes care of your health, takes cares of your kids, takes care of your elderly parents, takes care of every primary responsibility of adulthood – it’s not surprising that the citizenry cease to function as adults...

But of course, you must read the whole thing for the delightful Steynian prose that induces snickers amidst the gloom.

Interesting, not in a good way.

Can't say I'm surprised. Gays sentenced to death in Iraq for crime of homosexuality. I'm not sure why people expected differently; even if the government was completely secular, the people voting for its members aren't. Not that UK Gay News will note there's a reason homosexuality is a crime in the region...or maybe in the UK they legally can't.

(And of course, the commenters can't seem to figure out which religion it is that wants to kill them.)

"Upcycling", before it had a smarmy trendy moniker

I hate the word "upcycle."



I need outbuildings.

Taxes...

Once again, I'm pissed off that "federal income taxes paid" are not subtracted out of my "Wisconsin taxable income." That's one of the first lines on the Iowa form...

I never see this money. As far as my take-home pay, that money doesn't exist. Why am I being taxed on money that I never receive?!?

("Why are you just noticing this now?" "Now? I'm two weeks early this year!")

This is the only place I can complain about it; too many people respond with "Why are you complaining when you're getting a refund check?" and I'm irritated by people who believe they're smart (and on paper are "educated") but can't be bothered to learn/understand where their wages go.

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.

Oooh, so true.

I'm expecting some blowback for becoming a "fan" of Rush and EIB on Facebook (although I already "unfriended" the unhinged talking-points robots who kept referring to Sarah Palin and Bobby Jindal as "douchebags"*, and probably no one else will notice). But if anyone reasonably sane bitches at me, I have a link for them, courtesy of Kathy Shaidle.

Andrew Klavan, writing in the LA Times:

Whenever I interrupt a liberal's anti-Limbaugh rant to point out that the ranter has never actually listened to the man, he always says the same thing: "I've heard him!"

On further questioning, it always turns out that by "heard him," he means he's heard the selected excerpts spoon-fed him by the distortion-mongers of the mainstream media. These excerpts are specifically designed to accomplish one thing: to make sure you never actually listen to Limbaugh's show, never actually give him a fair chance to speak his piece to you directly.

Few political interactions with my "rediscovered" friends have been more satisfying than sending someone unattributed paragraphs of Limbaugh transcripts, being told they agree with his position, and then telling them who said it.

Not to say I agree with him all the time--I am still offended that he spent a whole half-hour bashing laid-off people who continued to enjoy their families and their hobbies in their free time--but at least I know specifically what I'm disagreeing with. Same thing with Barry O's pronouncements.

* I looked up "douchebags" on Wikipedia, expecting links to Barney Frank and Rahm Emmanuel, but it just took me to "douche".

Mirth Hour

I fell asleep before 8:30--but the heat was cranked up--and it appears the Gorons' prayerful sacrifice did not impress the Sun. Still no sunspot activity.

I'm pretty sure my ancestors did not work their whole lives for me to spurn human progress and voluntarily roll back to a 17th-century standard of living. Especially not at the request of a totalitarian religion spinning lies and preying on superstitious, ignorant dolts. In my observations, people fervently into "green" are people who need to believe they "make a difference" for the planet because otherwise their lives are completely empty. They also seem to have slept through math classes, and taken history after all the white men who built America--bridges, canals, railroads, factories, dams, Menlo Park--got stripped out.

My maternal ancestors would be especially angry if I eschewed the technological developments that allow beer to be imported from Germany and kept cold until can sit down to enjoy it after a long day of not scrubbing my laundry on a board and not kneading my own bread over a stove fired by wood I did not have to split. Who am I to let them down?

Human Achievement Hour Tonight!

I like this approach to rebutting the morons who think watching their TV in the dark for an hour "makes a difference."

You want to make a difference in energy-consumption, eco-whackos? Turn it all off and leave it off. Especially your computers, modems, routers, servers... You'll save all kinds of energy! Do it!

I also like this approach. Wish I knew more about power transmission.... But I'll be striking my blow for human freedom and achievement by refusing to modify my usual Saturday evening activities. It will have exactly the same effect on the climate as celebrities eating specially-arranged candle-lit dinners: none whatsoever.

I have been remiss.

I was so otherwise occupied this week I didn't notice the Iowa State women made the Sweet Sixteen. Excellent. :)

Note to self: Next year pay more attention.

God love ya, Chuck!

Occasionally, Grassley is still lucid. Heh.

Well, it's official...

I've been offered a six-month contract pressing buttons in East Syracuse, NY, and since I don't have anything better to do, I'm going to take it. (I will be leaving just before Opening Day and returning around the playoffs, grumble grumble, but for $5/mo I can get Bob Uecker on XM radio, and they're paying me well enough I don't have to give up my Bratwurst Bobblehead Day tix, muahahaha). So, if you see a fat woman in a Brewers hat, puffing around the Finger Lakes or Lake Ontario with a camera on a Sunday afternoon, do say hello. :-P

I'm bummed I'll be missing the last half of my German class, and the Tax Day Tea Party in Madison, but I'm kind of excited about having a new region to explore, even if it doesn't have bratwurst.

Erie Canal at Seneca Falls, from my 2005 trip to the area:


I have a much better camera now. Muahahaha.

PSA

Don't forget! Hour of Power is this Saturday!



Graphic from The PeoplesCube, who recycle their tips from last year. Tim Blair has a roundup of world events: "For some reason, Chicago’s South Side isn’t often mentioned in Earth Hour previews."

Don't forget to call the pizza guy before the Hour begins. May as well make your meaningless hypocritical gesture in comfort. I guess that's why they do it close to an equinox and not in the dead of summer/winter...wait, you don't have to turn off your air conditioner, just your lights. Hell, this year you don't even have to make the supreme sacrifice of turning off your computer. Don't forget to tell your Facebook friends you're sitting in the dark by yourself because you care!

I'll be ironing some fabric while watching a DVD (which is probably what I'd be doing anyway), and baking cookies (with evil non-locally-grown chocolate!). I could drive around the east side noticing that none of the yuppie-hippie types have shut off their outdoor security lighting, but then I wouldn't get fresh cookies. My priorities are in order.

Just what you've all been waiting for...

For all your quilting and home decorating needs: Barry O cotton fabric.



I need a bigger picture to determine if that's a Nazi salute, or if he's pointing out Superman. But the vignette where he's posed as a bobby-soxer dreaming of himself, that's priceless.

Ironic: Cranston is one of two, maybe three fabric finishers left in the U.S., after the EPA sent them all to SE Asia. Textile production needs energy, and Barry's going to do his damnedest to make sure they can't get it at a reasonable cost.

In a few months, if I find some on clearance somewhere, I will take great delight in denegrating this particular religious iconography, a la Shawn Quinlan, whom I respect for his use of fabric, despite his tired cliches and hackneyed leftoid talking points. But I'm not willing to pay new fabric price right now.

Travel.

I caught the tail end of this today (the AM band in my rental car was already tuned to the station that aired Rush--convenient!) on the way to an airport.

LEVIN: The statist creates nothing. The food Obama has was created by capitalism. The suit that he wears when he does these press conferences, he can thank capitalism, not a single bureaucrat. The car that he drives or that's driven for him -- the helicopter, the jet he takes -- all of it is a creation of capitalism.

RUSH: The teleprompter.

Did not drive off the road.

Changed flights at DTW, which smelled like a yak soaked in dog piss--I assume a fault in the climate control, since I can't find any news articles about shaggy bovines loose in a terminal--and featured stadium-sized screens of Airport CNN, which seemed to have Dear Leader's stand-up routine on a loop. There were smaller screens everywhere except the ladies' room. I finally found a dank corner where the screens were too far away to read the text--and the sound was being piped out of a speaker directly above my head. Thank God I had earplugs.

The young man seated next to me on my flight into MKE was a member of the WI National Guard returning home after graduating from basic training. He seemed tired, so I did not pester him with too much chat. His wife met him at the baggage claim and they were adorable. Heartening, somehow.

Whatever You Like.

Have been avoiding blogging because there's not really much I can say except "we're toast, we are so toast" (only usually with a string of profanity in two languages that makes the cat blush), everytime I read anything in the news. I should probably start avoiding news altogether, but I don't want to become the sort of low-information dimwit that gets talked into voting for people like Barry O 'cause they don't know any better...

I'll be offline for a couple of days at an interview in a different time zone (bonus: I'll miss Dear Leader's monthly television address to the serfs) and maybe I'll have something to say when I get back and maybe I won't.

Milwaukee Mystery Photo Revealed

Chinese Stone Lion, one of a pair that guards the entrance to the Zeidler Muncipal Building. They were a gift from the city of Ningbo, China.

Never noticed them until I walked by with a camera.

Milwaukee Mystery Photo

I took this yesterday, somewhere between the lakefront and Water Street. Feel free to leave guesses here or at Flickr.

One of those things I'd walked by a half-dozen times and never noticed until I walked by with a camera in my hand...

Dreams from my TelePrompter

*laugh*

I made a bitchy comment over at Ace of Spades yesterday about Barry O is getting half a million dollars so someone can abridge a book with his name on it (I'm sure the House of Representatives won't demand he send 90% of it to the Treasury, either...), which memed around the Intertubes until Mock Barack! created an excellent mockup of the cover:


Conservative bloggers are hereby given express written permission to use the phrase as they see fit; late-night liberal "comedians" need to send a check first. Heh.

I love Wisconsin.

If I had known there was a Cheese Championship with a Cheddar Lombardi, I would have taken a drive today.



It's like the Combine Demolition Derby--why can't I ever learn about these things before they happen?