The Wisconsin Tourism Federation changes its name after learning WTF means ... something else.
~ E

License needed for a few minutes of free child care

I guess if you're helping out a neighbor by watching their kids for a few minutes, you'll need a license to do so. At least, that's what the Michigan Department of Human Services told a woman there.

This is from USA Today:

... Lisa Snyder of Middleville, Mich., says she takes no money for watching the three children for 15-40 minutes each day so that the neighbors can get to work on time ... the Department of Human Services, acting on a complaint that Snyder was operating an illegal child care home, demanded she either get a license, stop watching the kids or face the consequences, WZZM says ...

And this is being a rights issue and all, you know the Cato Institute has something to say about it:

... this is what people mean when they warn that an ever-expanding government threatens the values of neighborliness and community. When the government provides services for free, or when it erects obstacles to individuals’ providing those services, it reduces private provision and simultaneously increases the demand for government services. If you make it illegal for neighbors to watch one another’s kids, you weaken ties of neighborhood and community ...

Don't these government types have something better to do? Like, attempt to sprout a brain?

Bird-borne parasite may have felled Tyrannosaurus

Remember that T-rex that scared you silly in Jurassic Park? The one that even ate lawyers?

Scientists are now suggesting one specimen, a 7-ton monster now on display in Chicago, may have been killed by something you'd need a microscope to find.

This is from Yahoo! News:

... the remains of Sue, a star attraction of the Field Museum in Chicago, possess holes in her jaw that some believed were battle scars, the result of bloody combat with another dinosaur, possibly another T. rex ... Now researchers suggest these scars did not result from a clash of titans, but rather from a lowly parasite. The infection in Sue's throat and mouth may have been so severe that the 42-foot-long, 7-ton dinosaur starved to death.... the ailment the scientists propose felled Sue and other T. rexes is trichomonosis, also known as trichomoniasis. In birds, the disease is caused by Trichomonas gallinae, a single-celled protozoan. Although some birds, such as pigeons, commonly host the parasite but suffer few ill effects, in birds of prey such as falcons and hawks, the germ causes a pattern of serious lesions in the lower beak that closely matches the holes in the jaws of Sue and occurs in the same anatomical location ... "It's ironic to think that an animal as mighty as 'Sue' probably died as a result of a parasitic infection. I'll never look at a feral pigeon the same way again," said researcher Steven Salisbury at the University of Queensland in Australia ...

I just had to include this scene. For me, it was one of those rare uplifting moments in cinematic history. Folks in the movie house thought I was crazy when I gave it a standing ovation. OK. That's another story.

Video: From Jurassic Park, Universal Pictures.

So did Obama speak with forked tongue?

Congressman Joe Wilson put his name in headlines when he shouted "you lie" to President Barack Obama. As ill-mannered as his outburst was (and this is a congressman from the South!) journalists seem to have paid more attention to how Wilson said it than what he said.

So did Obama lie? Did he obfuscate? Does he speak with forked tongue?

National Review writers Michael F. Cannon and Ramesh Ponnuru did some fact checking on Obama's message, and here are the findings:

... by our count, the president made more than 20 inaccurate claims in his speech to Congress. We have excluded several comments that are deeply misleading but not outright false. (For example: Obama pledged not to tap the Medicare trust fund to pay for reform. But there is no money in that “trust fund,” anyway, so the pledge is meaningless.) Even so, we may have missed one or more false statements by the president. Our failure to include one of his comments in the following list should not be taken to constitute an endorsement of its accuracy, let alone wisdom ...

Lots of major things happening, and what's the big issue in DC this week? Texting while driving! They're easily amused.
~ E

Public Option facet of health care reform proposal may be toast - Senate committee says no way, Jose.
~ E

Medical mixup wipes out wild jaguar population

This medical mixup proved to be costly, as the last wild jaguar in the United States was extinguished.

I can hear the Game And Fish people in Arizona right now: "Whoops, clumsy me!"

This is from New Times, an alternative newspaper in Phoenix:

In February, Game and Fish trapped and tagged a jaguar named "Macho B," as part of an effort to track the migration patterns of mountain lions and other animals near the Mexico-Arizona border ... it was released back into the wild until March, when they recaptured the jaguar and determined it was suffering kidney failure ... that was the end of the road for "Macho" and he was euthanized ... as medical records later showed, "Macho B," who happened to be the last known wild Jaguar in the United States, was more likely dehydrated than suffering kidney failure, and giving the animal a little water probably would have done the trick ... oops.

Now, that's an error that's a little hard to fix, yes?

Photo: Well, that's the last of 'em. "Macho B," in healthier times. Photo by the Arizona Fish And Game Department.

Columnist William Safire, who coined the phrase "nattering nabobs of negativism" for VP Spiro Agnew, dies.
~ E

If you drove for NASCAR, what would they call you?

I saw this on a race fan site.

Yeah, I reckon you'd have to be a NASCAR fan to dig this, or at least someone who spends some serious time Down South.

Enjoy!

'It Can't Happen Here' more relevant, though harder to find

Back in the 1930s, while the economy sat in the tank and a few bad-news dictators left little jackboot prints all over the globe, folks were saying we were still reasonably safe in the USA. That it couldn't happen here.

Novelist Sinclair Lewis wrote a novel that said, oh yes it can. And "It Can't Happen Here" created something of a stir. I discovered the book quite a few years ago, and am rereading it now, as if I need something to make me all paranoid about things.

I understand he based the lead character (Buzz Windrip) on Huey Long, the populist politician who ruled Louisiana any way he wanted.

I'm big on history, mostly because it gives a been-there view of the future.

I downloaded it some months ago from the U.S. Project Gutenberg site. I looked at that site again today, and while quite a few other Lewis books are available for download, this one is not. What's up with that?

I did find it at the Australian Project Gutenberg site. It'll load into your Web browser, and you can save it from there as an .html or .txt document. Or you can read it or download it from the Adelaide site, also from Australia. Get 'em while they're hot, folks!

Or, you can get the actual book from here.

Grab it and read it. And if you're a thinking person, it should scare the pants off of you.

Leading our children in songs of praise

This is a song they're teaching children to sing in tax-supported public schools. This video was shot at B. Bernice Young Elementary School in Burlington, New Jersey.

Actually, there are two songs making the rounds:

Song 1:

Mm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama

He said that all must lend a hand

To make this country strong again

Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama

He said we must be fair today

Equal work means equal pay

Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama

He said that we must take a stand

To make sure everyone gets a chance

Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama

He said red, yellow, black or white

All are equal in his sight

Mmm, mmm, mm!

Barack Hussein Obama

Yes!

Mmm, mmm, mm

Barack Hussein Obama

* * *

If parts of this song sound familiar, you're right. It's lifted directly out of the Rebecca St. James children's song, "Jesus Loves The Little Children."

This is scary stuff, and you're paying for it.

And here's the other song:

Hello, Mr. President we honor you today!

For all your great accomplishments, we all doth say “hooray!”

Hooray, Mr. President! You’re number one!

The first black American to lead this great nation!

Hooray, Mr. President we honor your great plans

To make this country’s economy number one again!

Hooray Mr. President, we’re really proud of you!

And we stand for all Americans under the great Red, White, and Blue!

So continue —- Mr. President we know you’ll do the trick

So here’s a hearty hip-hooray —-

Hip, hip hooray!

Hip, hip hooray!

Hip, hip hooray!

* * *

Kool-Aid will be served after the recital.

Susan Atkins, convicted murderer and Charles Manson follower, dies at 61.
~ E

Sheesh! Former VP Walter Mondale joins Politically Undead Road Show, concurs with Jimmy Carter.
~ E

Political undead back for a reunion tour

They're coming out of some graveyard somewhere, searching for some living organism to feast on. Some long-dead -- or so we thought -- politicos have been crashing the front page in recent weeks.

Lately we've been hearing from some real blasts from the past. Now it's Michael Dukakis, Jimmy Carter, and Ralph Nader parading across center stage in an eerie dance that looks like it was spliced from a bad horror movie. It's the political undead, popping up from the crypt again.

Michael Dukakis is one guy I thought was dead. Well, he was, although his body continued to function. Nobody'd heard from him since he was so thoroughly drubbed by George Bush I in the 1988 election. So why is it that he suddenly surfaced after Ted Kennedy died and a Senate seat became available?

Maybe with today's announcement that Paul Kirk will hold Kennedy's seat until a special election in January will put Dukakis back in his political coffin. Let's hope so. Maybe a layer of concrete would be a good thing right now, but I don't think he'll just go away quietly.

Last we'd heard from Jimmy Carter, he was out pounding nails somewhere. Or trying to ... well, not preserve a legacy, but create a legacy that isn't there. I won't depress you with his list of presidential accomplishments, but he's had his moments of success since leaving the White House, including a Nobel Peace Prize a few years ago.

But Carter, deep into his 80s now, keeps popping up. Soon after Congressman Joe Wilson made his from-the-peanut-gallery remarks about Obama and the health care plan, Carter stuck his oar into the argument. Most of the criticism of ObamaNation, he offered, is firmly rooted in racism.

What's amazing is that people took him seriously. His remarks are totally out of character with the Carter we knew, and this begs the question: Was this Jimmy talking, or was it dementia?

An ineffectual president, his remarks may well have destroyed his track record as an ex-president, too.

Ralph Nader is another who is 40 years past his prime, but he keeps resurfacing every leap year. Look it up. In 1996, in 2000, in 2004, and in 2008 he was another longshot because-he-can Presidential contender. In 2000 he captured enough votes -- mostly siphoned from Democrat Al Gore's base -- to insure a victory for George Bush II, and in subsequent elections he kept running under mixed reviews. The Democrats didn't want to see his face (see 2000), but the Republicans welcomed his presence. Of course.

So a few days ago, Nader adjusted his own schedule to speak out against ObamaNation. He was in the process of plugging his new book, and was talking with Time reporters when he released his bombshell about the president: "Weak. Waffling, wavering, ambiguous, and overwhelmingly concessionary."

Whether his opinion has anything to do with reality is a moot point. The question is: Just who is this guy? Who rattled his cage? He had a lot of clout at one time, but that was in the late 1960s -- 40 years ago. If he still has any credibility, he left it in his other pants pocket.

None of which seems to matter to Nader. He says it's to early to tell whether he will walk amomg them in the 2012 presidential election. He'll be 78 years old then, and just as irrelevant then as he has been in the past few decades. But take this to the bank: If he's still sucking air in 2012 he'll be in the running.

Few things are sadder than a way-over-the-hill leader. Most activists and agents of change are one-shot types, good for one or two issues. Think about it. Mention the name Jesse Jackson these days, and all you get is a bunch of giggles. Howard Jarvis is dead now, and he's ... well, he's not even the answer to a trivia question any more. His creation, the property-tax-slashing Proposition 13 in California, has largely been forgotten.

Some years ago, I had the opportunity to hear Cesar Chavez speak in my home town. I was busy, so I palmed the assignment off on one of my young reporters. Turns out I didn't miss much. Chavez' grape-boycotting, farm-worker-organizing days were at least 20 years removed, although he was still considered The Man in some circles. My reporter told me she was not impressed; Chavez came across as another activist hanging on to his glory days.

I'm a big sports fan, and I remember watching an ancient Willie Mays fall down running the bases while trying to squeeze one more year out of an illustrious career. Watching an aging Steve Carlton hook on with team after team, trying to recapture that magic. Watching Muhammad Ali get pounded in his last couple of bouts -- and now the man can hardly speak or move.

Pathetic sights, just like the Carters, Dukakises, and Naders are now in that great sport we call politics.

Some guys don't know when to hang 'em up.

Do you actually believe they read what they vote on?

I got this from the Washington Times, by way of the Goomba News Network:

... Democrats on the Senate Finance Committee on Wednesday turned back a Republican amendment to wait 72 hours and require a full cost estimate before the final committee vote on the health care reform bill ... it was the committee's first vote out of more than 500 amendments awaiting them, in what has already been a contentious mark-up session ...

If you really think your friendly neighborhood legislator read that health care bill, you're probably crazy. And you can say the same about any other bill that shows up in Washington. Shoot, they're not even written in English, but in some half-breed language that some people swear makes sense.

Whoops - speaking of being full of it ...

I'm not sure where my brain was when I wrote a missive a few days ago about Vice President Joe Biden's take on the 2010 Congressional elections a few days ago. Here's what I said:

"The Democrats currently hold a 60-40 majority in Congress. While losing those seats wouldn't take the majority away from Obama's party ..."

One problem. The 60-40 margin I mentioned is in the Senate, not the House -- which is the body Biden was referring to when he spoke at a fundraiser. Here's what I wrote about that:

"At stake is a block of 35 Congressional seats in traditionally Republican districts that are now filled by Democrats. Biden said Team Obama is pinning its hopes on hanging on to those seats in the midterm election."

Here I was referring to the House of Representatives, as was Biden. Not quite the same as the Senate. D'oh!

Still, those 35 seats in the House won't be enough to give the majority to the Republicans, but Biden feels it's enough to cripple ObamaNation.

Maybe Biden's tendency to talk first and think about it later is catching.

Paul Kirk, 71, chosen to keep Ted Kennedy's seat warm until a special election next January.
~ E

The truth is out: Guns don't kill people - idiots kill people

Lesson Number One in any firearm safety course usually runs like this: Don't kill yourself. And this is especially true if you're the one teaching others how to be safe.

Didn't quite work that way for 40-year-old James Looney (an appropriate name!), who shot himself in the head while showing his girlfriend how to handle a firearm safely.

Please. I'm not making this up.

This quote is from the original press release, submitted to the Riverfront Times by Jackson County, Missouri Sheriff Oliver "Glenn" Boyer:

... according to the witness, James Looney would show the different safety mechanisms, put the gun to his head, and ask if the gun would go off. Looney apparently did this with two other weapons and varied safety mechanisms, before the last one went off ...

Reading this story, I had a few questions:

- Was alcohol involved?

- Are you sure he wasn't just cleaning his gun? (I've heard that excuse given at so many accidental shootings that it's become a cliche. But, as I asked a cop at the scene of one such misfiring, don't you usually empty your gun before cleaning it?)

- Did Looney, at any time, announce: "Hey, y'all, watch this!"?

Getting what we ask for: It's not smart people

It's true. Sometimes we get what we ask for.

This video is almost 10 minutes, but it's worth a look -- especially if you wonder where all these stupid people come from. There's a special guest appearance by Howard Beale (Network, 1976).

(Special thanks to Akos_Fintor for sending this along!)

Want to know how to derail ObamaNation? Ask Biden

Like I said about Vice President Joe Biden before, who needs enemies?

At a fund raiser for an Arizona congresswoman Tuesday, Biden said that if the Democrats lose much of its majority in next year's election, it could mean curtains for Barack Obama's agenda.

At stake is a block of 35 Congressional seats in traditionally Republican districts that are now filled by Democrats. Biden said Team Obama is pinning its hopes on hanging on to those seats in the midterm election.

This is according to Karen Travers at ABC News:

"If they take them back, this the end of the road for what Barack and I are trying to do," the vice president said at a fundraiser for Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-AZ) (Tuesday) in Greenville, Delaware ...

The Democrats currently hold a 60-40 majority in Congress. While losing those seats wouldn't take the majority away from Obama's party, the Republicans would be in better bargaining position in the Capitol, and they would regain the ability to fillibuster a bill out of existence.

Kevin Aylward of the Wizbang blog finds this terribly funny.

... the really humorous part is that later in the article Biden then predicts that if by some miracle Democrats aren't slaughtered in the mid term elections a new era of bipartisanship will blossom ...

Something tells me dissent is one thing ObamaNation does NOT want.

On The Workbench: Twitter appeal, Chrome workaround

In The Workbench, Reloaded:

Twitter appeal: People love the mundane

Plug-in turns Explorer into nemesis Google's Chrome

Torvalds: Creeping feature-itis bloats Linux

You know the drill. Click 'em, read 'em, learn from 'em.

The Boss turns 60 today. Of course he was Born In The USA. Keep those great songs coming, Bruce.
~ E

Obama makes Earth, Wind, and Fire cool again

This band, founded by percussionist Maurice White, was one of my favorites in the late 1970s. Built around a big horn section and some really strange-looking album covers, they caught my developing ear very quickly.

They've been out of circulation for a while, but according to Newsweek, they're enjoying a renaissance thanks Barack Obama.

President Obama, says White, "has given credibility to great music, you know really good music, from jazz to pop to like Stevie Wonder, Earth, Wind & Fire, Wynton Marsalis. He actually told people, 'Look, check this kind of music out. These are my guys. This is what I grew up with."

It may be the best thing Obama has done since being inaugurated. It can't be his economic policies, or his ideas for medical care.

Newsweek, on EWF's origin:

... Maurice came up with the concept for Earth, Wind & Fire—a band unlike anything around. Maurice, a drummer, was playing with pianist and composer Ramsey Lewis, who, as Verdine recalls, thought the idea was crazy: "When Maurice was getting ready to put the group together, he told Ramsey what he was going to do. He said, 'We're going to have nine different people. We're going to play all over the world. We're going to have people flying through the air. We're going to have lights.' And Ramsey told Maurice, 'Go back to bed.' But it happened."

Does newspaper bailout bill include government control?

Let's see. The government took over the auto industry. The banking industry. And the Obama Administration is taking a crack at the medical industry. Busy, busy, busy ...

Now, there's a bailout bill for newspapers floating around in the Senate pipeline.

Seriously. It's Senate Bill 673, the "Newspaper Revitalization Act," introducd by Sen. Ben Cardin (D-MD). The bill supposedly will give news outlets a bunch of tax breaks if they reorganize as 501(c)(3) corporations. That bill has so far attracted one cosponsor, Cardin's Maryland colleague Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D).

OK. I'm real dubious about the way bailouts are shaking out these days. Each one I'd mentioned so far (auto and banking) brought large measures of control into the mix. And the thought of the government -- any government -- buying even a modicum of control in the media should be enough to freeze you.

Sure, in my argument I'm probably engaging in some real leaps in logic, but let's get serious. Any time big money goes into something, be it from government or the private sector, expect some quid pro quo. One would be a fool to think this will just be free money to the media, and this proposed bailout is not from the kindness of the government's heart -- it has no heart. Plus, again, look at the most recent bailouts in banking and the auto industry. No matter how you dress it up and put a bow on it, these industries are under a lot more government control than they were before the first check was scratched out.

I live in a free society and like it that way. And my first question about the proposed media bailout is, what's the pro quo in exchange for the quid?

Admittedly, the mainstream media is toast. Although I seldom buy a newspaper, I make it a point to download (via RSS subscription feed) a whole bunch of news stories from many different outlets. My feeds include CNN, USA Today, Reuters, the BBC, New York Times, the Newser aggretator, Time, and Newsweek. Plus the Post & Courier and Charleston Watch feeds for local news. Reading this stuff gives me the feeling I'm going down for the third time in a vat of warm maple syrup.

When I left the mainstream news industry in 1997, the Internet was still more of a toy than a tool. No one really considered the possibility that it may be a real rival to print journalism. No one had heard of "blogging," and the first time I hard the term -- five years after my "retirement," I thought it was an indecent and physically impossible act. Our biggest rivals for the news were the other newspapers in whatever area I was working, plus that thing we called the "electronic media," which at the time meant radio and TV. Working for weeklies and smaller dailies, I delighted in leaving the big boys napping on vital news stories, in asking the questions no one else dared to ask, in zagging on stories while everyone else was zigging.

Probably the highest praise I received in journalism was when I wrote for the Mohave County Standard, which was the smallest and least profitable newspaper in Bullhead City, Arizona, a three-paper area. We were going head to head with the Mohave Valley Daily News (where I once worked) and the Bullhead City Bee (where I once worked). "I read the Mohave Valley News to see what they say, and the Bee to see what they say," some of my readers told me. "I read The Standard to find out what really happened."

Fun times. Too bad The Standard couldn't afford to pay me.

In the past year, several of your larger newspapers either shut their doors or went into bankruptcy, operating as a shell of their former selves. The others cut their news staffs to the bone, relying more on wire copy from the Associated Press. And the news has been trivialized, with more stuff on your favorite pop culture idol than on news that actually has some effect on you.

This most recent election showed how truly exposed the news industry is. I don't think the large media outlets gave a whit about what Barack Obama had to say -- or John McCain, Sarah Palin, or Hillary Clinton -- but they fell in love with Obama the rock star.

And threw their last scraps of credibility into the nearest dumpster.

Meanwhile, you'd have to go to the blogs to find out what really happened. So far, the government is not going to bail the bloggers out anytime soon, so there will be a sense of independence you're not going to find in your mainstream media.

Unfortunately, everyone's got a blog these days, and most of them are full of crap. And yeah, I'll admit it to being full of it sometimes. Being full of it is the prerogative of the editorial "I."

I have a lot of blogs in my RSS feeds. And I try to get some sort of balance there. Of course a guy like me will have many feeds from the libertarian and right-wing sites, but I also have many from the hard-left gang.

While you're not going to find The Ultimate, Be-All Truth out of a blog -- nothing made by purely human hands is going to have that -- at least reading stuff from many different sources will broaden one's understanding of what's going on in the world.

And at least, the blogs are not subject to government influence, favors, or control.

Naked old man thwarts drunken home invasion

I absolutely must give this guy his due, and maybe a fig leaf.

This is from the Associated Press:

... authorities said a naked 91-year-old man was able to hold a drunken intruder at gunpoint until deputies arrived. Robert E. Thompson jumped out of bed early Saturday when his dog starting growling and attacking the intruder. He said he got his revolver and went out back to let the guy know how he felt about home invaders ...

In case you ask, no, I'm not going to include a photo with this story. I don't care what the reader asks for here, there are some things I just won't do.

USA having its own brain drain

I often joke about how American society is losing its brains, but it appears this may be less tongue-in-cheek than I'd want to think.

It seems the United States is losing some of its best, most talented workers to other nations.

This is from USA Today:

...the exodus raises concerns that the United States may lose its competitive edge in science, technology and other fields ...

Let's look at history. Part of why the U.S. has had such an edge in the sciences is because so many of the world's best and brightest emigrated here. We've received the minds of the Einsteins, the Teslas, and the Von Brauns due to someone else's brain drain.

During World War II, the Germans discovered how a bomb, sent over long distance via rocket, could be a useful wartime tool. So they pretty much cornered the market on on rocket scientists. But these geniuses got out of Dodge and moved elsewhere, either to the United States or Russia. Consequently, Germany sat on the sidelines while the two superpowers got the Space Age rolling.

Don't loose that dictionary: You're most common misspellings

I heard this list of most common misspellings on a radio program recently, and I just had to share it. Check 'em out, and if the shoe fits ...

YOU'RE / YOUR - "You're" is a contraction for you are. "Your" denotes something that belongs to you. You're going to drive your car.

IT'S / ITS - I have to think about this one, but it follows the same rules as you're/your.

THEY'RE / THEIR / THERE - They're = they are. Their = belonging to them. There = Not here, but ...

TOO / TO - "Too" is, for lack of a better word, inclusive. I'm cutting you in on the action. Are you going TO throw up, TOO?

LOOSE / LOSE - "Loose" is the opposite of tight, and if it stays LOOSE too long, you just might LOSE it.

IRREGARDLESS - This isn't even a word. It's a made-up one, often used in the wrong context, and by it's very nature (the ir- prefix and -less suffix) it denotes a double negative. Didn't Mom teach you better than that?

ALOT - I see this a lot. Also not a word, though it's so prevalent it may actually become one. Every time I see it in print, I bemoan all this illiteracy around me.

AHOLD - Also not a word, though I'm sometimes guilty of using it.

Obama, to David Letterman: "I was black before the election." Which means ... ?
~ E

How did "racist" come to mean "one who disagrees with the President?"
~ E

Sweden is the new USA, USA the new Sweden

While the United States is edging into deep left field with government takeovers in the auto and banking industries, and plans for a national health care plan, another nation that's been there is leaning more toward encouraging more individualism via tax cuts.

OK. Hate to say it. Sweden was seriously messed up for years, and a couple of decades ago started looking towar the American model. But now, that American model is not here, but ... in Sweden.

According to the Breibart web site:

... 99 percent of full-time employees will have had their taxes reduced by a total of 1,000 kronor per month, while 75 percent will have had reductions of 1,500 kronor, the government said ... "The coalition government has agreed on reforms for jobs and entrepreneurialism that will increase employment in the long-term. It has to be more profitable to work and more companies should be able to hire employees" ...

And according to the Power Line blog:

... it's an interesting comparison: Sweden experimented with the nanny state, learned that it was devastating to the economic and moral health of its people, and is moving back toward individualism. Here in the U.S., we had the world's most dynamic economy, and the lesson we took away from that--some of us, anyway--was that we were doing something wrong and needed to socialize everything ...

Some time ago I read Ira Magaziner's The Silent War, which is kind of dated (written in 1989), but gave a look at where Sweden was and where it was going at the time:

"Workers who don't work enough, cradle-to-grave welfare, high taxes, high wages and benefits, strong unions, big government debt -- it was a recipe, the business press, for economic failure," Magaziner wrote.

That was before Sweden began putting more emphasis on training, research and development, and developing a policy where dying industries were no longer propped up by government dollars.

I got this from the WizBang blog, and the article does stick a mirror in front of at least two countries.

New rule for kids at petting zoo: Look, don't touch

I've always liked animals, and one of the things I always liked as a kid was any kind of petting zoo. Even if it was hanging around a bunch of goats and sheep, it was really cool. Just a great part of being a kid.

Now, parents are advised to let their young ones look, but not touch. Something about disease.

From the BBC:

...under-fives should not be allowed to touch animals at petting farms, a diseases expert says amid E.coli fears over four sites ...

OK. We make sure our youngsters are protected. Don't play in the mud. Use your hand sanitizer (but don't huff it). Take this antibiotic if you have the sniffles.

Something's wrong here. As kids, we drank from the neighbor's garden hose. We shared a Coke several ways, passing the bottle from hand to mouth -- and those who worried about germs would wipe the mouth of the bottle with a bare hand. We'd play baseball games at the end of the street, scatter when a car pulled up, and sometimes kept score. The only real danger there was knocking the ball in one neighbor's front yard, because there was a rumor he cooked and ate children.

Good thing there's a statute of limitations on such things, or DSS would be after our moms and dads today.

Component for great garden fertilizer may be within you

There are some things I just can't make up, and this is one of them. This is from National Geographic:

... ant a gorgeous garden? Just add pee, according to a new study that says nitrogen-rich urine and magnesium-rich ash work together to form a powerful—and cheap—fertilizer ...

Just don't forget to wash your hands.

Sanford on Wilson: Enough is enough

South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford, who has enough of his battles going on right now, suggests it's time for Congressman Joe Wilson and his critics to move on.

Wilson, who shouted out "You lie!" during Barack Obama's speech on health care, instantly propelled himself from a relative unknown in background of Congress to national news -- and contoversial figure -- during his outburst.

Sanford said Wison's issues cover the "same dynamic" as his own.

From CNN:

... "the guy apologized, and then you can have a bunch of other people come back and say, 'We want you to apologize again and again and again,'" Sanford told CN2 News in Rock Hill, South Carolina. "But what do people want out of federal representation? They want somebody representing them up in Congress ... he apologized to the president. Does he have to issue 25 more apologies before folks will leave him alone?"

Sanford knows a little something about this. He's been on a mea culpa tour for the past few months, ever since he admitted having an extramarital affair in Argentina, which had him leave the state's business on the back burner while he traveled to South America to visit the woman he referred to as his "soul mate."

Wilson says he wants to let bygones be bygones. From the Post & Courier:

... the South Carolina congressman who shouted "You lie" at President Obama last week during a speech to Congress said Friday that he would not make such an outburst again, and the donations pouring into campaign coffers are not worth the negative attention he's received ...

Enough soap opera. Can we get back to work sometime this year or next?

New evidence suggests Obama 'ain't from around here'

There is still all this controversy about whether Barack Obama was born in the United States; I suspect (and I don't like what he's doing in office either) that this is the result of a few sore losers who are seeking to get him thrown out on a technicality. That's all.

But forget about what the "birthers" have to say. Here is some evidence, from Matt Blum of Wired, that questions of his origin run a lot deeper than that. Blum offers photographic evidence that Obama, as we say out in these parts, ain't from around here:

... You've heard the charges that President Obama wasn't born in the United States. We at GeekDad believe Obama is actually a being from another planet. And we have uncovered photographic "proof ..."

Which may or may not explain a few things ...

Amnesty for illegals may be part of health plan

Obama still swears illegal aliens will not be eligible for benefits under the proposed national health care plan.

But, he's considering a plan to make the illegals legal, and get them into the system that way.

This is according to U.S. News & World Report blogger Peter Roff:

... president's doublespeak suggests he has a bigger plan. American taxpayers are watching ...

Which means his statement that triggered the ire of a certain South Carolina congressman are not technically a lie. Not technically, anyway.

Burglar can't stay away from Facebook

Clearly this guy has a problem, and he should run -- not walk -- to that Internet addiction center.

From Slashdot, one of my favorite ubergeeky sites:

... yet-another-lobbyist writes to mention that Facebook addiction has finally caused real world consequences, at least for one would-be burglar. It seems that 19-year-old Jonathan Parker couldn't stay away from the popular social networking site, even long enough to rob a house. Parker not only stopped mid-robbery to check his Facebook status on the victim's computer, but left it logged in to his account when he left ...

OK. If you have to surf on someone else's computer, don't do it when you're burglarizing the joint. Make sure all history is wiped out.

And hey, don't forget to log out first.

Viagra 2.0: Rub it in

A new version of Viagra appears to be coming down the pike -- allegedly it'll be in a cream.

This is from the BBC:

A cream allowing erectile dysfunction drugs to be applied directly could make them safer, scientists say ...

[Insert bad joke here.]

This may be a real good thing for those who are on Prozac, as the 10-mg tablets look a lot like the Viagra pill (I had to go online to see this for myself, though I know what Prozac looks like). See, Viagra is mentioned as the best way to mitigate one of Prozac's most notorious side effects. You don't want a medical mixup at a most crucial moment.

Melts in your sleeve, not in your hand -- or something

I didn't know this until recently: When you sneeze, do it in your sleeve or in the crook of your arm.

This becomes more significant when there's a big scare going on about H1N1, the colorless euphemism for that which we used to know as "swine flu."

NBC reporter Chuck Todd got an impromptu sneezing lesson from health secretary Kathleen Sebelius when he let one rip during a press conference (in this case, "letting one rip" means a sneeze rather than the usual, less-delicate meaning of the phrase).

"What's up with that?" Sibelius asked after the explosion. Then, with the media conference on hold for a minute, she gave the errant reporter the proper protocols for screening a sneeze.

Going to school in the Dark Ages (and no, we didn't do our classwork on slate boards) the preferred method of absorbing a sneeze or cough was with a handkerchief. Except I don't know of anyone under the age of 60 who really carries one, and if it's a particularly "meaty" sneeze with lots of viscosity involved, I really can't picture someone shoving the whole mess back in his pocket. Ugh.

Folks my age may carry a bandanna, the great multi-purpose device, though we use it for everything but sneezing. I use mine for wiping sweat, liner for a hard hat (plastic on bare skin -- I have plenty of that topside -- can be really uncomfortable), an emergency dust mask when I'm doing particularly dirty jobs, and as a mute/volume control when playing harmonica into a microphone. But I'd rather sneeze in someone else's shirttail than put my own snot in my pocket.

If you do the faux pas of using your hand, you then (after wiping off the evidence and disposing of it) dose yourself with some hand sanitizer.

Ah, yes. Hand sanitizer. It's supposed to be the new back-to-school item. Except that in some schools that's rationed out as needed. A teacher told me recently that her sixth-grade students are not allowed to carry their own stash of hand sanitizer. It's the alcohol content and the danger of "huffing," i.e. putting a glop of hand sanitizer in a plastic bag and breathing in the aroma. Could be a cheap high, or more likely an even cheaper headache.

Recently I shared a story about how the alcohol content is a reason why the stuff is not being sent to one Indian reservation. I guess use that hand sanitizer if the folks think you're really going to use it for official purposes.

Sanford's security clearance pulled for a week

As if we in South Carolina don't have enough problems with bizarre behavior from our elected officials, it turns out Gov. Mark Sanford's security clearance was pulled by Homeland Security after admitting his South American adventure.

His clearance was reinstated a week later.

From the Charleston Post & Courier:

... in a certified letter to Sanford dated July 1, Katherine Janosek, chief of the Homeland Security Personnel Security Division, wrote that the "Office of Security has suspended your access to classified information" ... she explained that the "suspension is based on recent actions and statements by you that raise questions about your judgment, lack of candor, reliability, trustworthiness and ability to protect classified information" ...

Ugh. Much as I like Sanford (he's really more libertarian than Republican) and respect him as a smart man in politics, he's awfully forgetful about other, real-life stuff. Like, if you find yourself in a hole, you don't keep digging.

PBR renaissance is fruit of recession

With our economy being what it is, PBR is staging a comeback among beer hounds.

Didn't that stuff used to be the cheap of the cheap? Something you drank because it was cheaper than anything else and the taste (a bit) more tolerable than the gas from a Texaco pump?

This is from Advertising Age:

... but still, if PBR costs more and advertises less, why is it up 25% this year, vs. an 18% gain for Keystone and low- to mid-single-digit gains for the others? ... the answer, wholesalers and beer-marketing experts said, is likely found in marketing activity that occurred long before the current recession. Back in 2004, Pabst executed a highly effective word-of-mouth campaign that made the long-declining brand an "ironic downscale chic" choice for bike messengers and other younger drinkers who viewed the beer as a statement of non-mainstream taste.

What's next? Thunderbird with fish or veal?

California unemployment now at 12.2%.
~ E

Young blogger tells senator off in town hall

Senators Lindsey Graham(R-SC) and John McCain (R-AZ) held a town hall at 9 a.m. Monday here in town, and I didn't go. Could have, but I had some making-a-living things to do.

This young woman got into a frank discussion with Graham, who is one of those Republicans who quacks and waddles like a Democrat. Here's part of the exchange:

... so as soon as the meeting was over, I practically ran over to the swarm of people surrounding the senators, elbowed my way through, and as he grabbed my hand to shake it and give a fake smile, I stopped him and said, "Senator Graham, you did not answer my question." He stopped, looked at me, and said, "Are you a Ron Paul supporter?" to which I replied, "I am, but you still didn't answer my question from earlier ..."

Should have gone to the town hall, just to see that.

Federal Reserve head Ben Bernacke: Recession may be over. Coulda fooled me ...
~ E

From Workbench: Good site may bring bad ad

Even the New York Times may spawn questionable ads.

(Read about it, and be careful)

No wonder nobody's working: ESC automated

Been to the unemployment office lately?

For me, this is a relatively new thing. I hadn't set foot in such a place in more than 22 years, so we're talking about some serious learning curve.

This visit to the Employment Security Commission became necessary after I was laid off from work. I'd mentioned this in another post (and in Twitter). Kind of a bummer, but let's move on, shall we?

Now, the unemployment line isn't on my Top Ten Favorite Places To Go. To put it bluntly, I'd rather gargle razor blades than visit that place. I don't care for government offices in general, but off my experience the unemployment office is probably the worst of the worst in Civil Service Land. Last time I was in the unemployment line was in San Bernardino, and I spent most of that time standing up and wondering if the line would move any time soon. Just for fun I'd calculated how many feet I had to travel from back to front of the line, noted the time I was there, and figured out how many miles per hour I was moving. Actually, hours per mile. Back then, you wrote out your claims on paper and mailed them in, and the staff showed great aptitude and unmatched creativity in screwing things up.

This time, I came in prepared. Had my laptop with me. A bottle of water. Cell phone. MP3 player. "Divine Justice," the latest of David Baldacci's Camel Club series. At 523 pages, I was ready for some serious waiting.

My first act going in was to take a number. I had #917. I looked at the screen up front; now serving #880. Only 37 to go. I just might finish that novel, I thought.

To my amazement, my visit was much quicker than expected, and the staff was actually helpful. That's the good news. I really didn't see anyone, though I'm not sure whether that is good or bad news. I'm not even sure I got anything done. The only one who interviewed me was a computer.

I guess if you're computer-illiterate, you're really going to need a paddle when going for unemployment benefits. For a minute I considered amusing myself by telling the staff I was Amish (which I used to do in grocery stores during those off hours when the only open checkstands were the self-serve automated kind), but the MP3 player and headphones hanging from my neck would have blown my cover.

Seriously, in the public area I only saw three employees. There was a receptionist at the front desk, and two people -- one male, one female -- in the room where I applied. All of them looked about 12 years old, and none of them seemed to mind working with the public (I thought the redhead who guided me through the application database was particularly cute even though I've got a few decades on her). I never saw the other office, the one with the cubicles populated by aging timeserving civil servants and all the accoutrements you usually find in unemployment offices. Don't want the walk-in public to see the thumbscrews and branding irons, I reckon.

Once you get the knack of entering your stuff on the database, you're doing all right. It takes very few minutes to get your claim in. All the garbage. Where you worked, why you're no longer there. The real time eater is registering for work through the South Carolina Job Bank, a required step. Figure a little less than an hour to get all that stuff in.

(Which reminds me, I've never heard of anyone actually getting a job through job services at the unemployment office. I'm taking it on faith, though, that it does happen.)

It turns out that in South Carolina you can do the whole application process online, and not even see the inside of the unemployment office -- at least not in the early going. In fact I started to do this during my lunch break on Friday, but was stopped short when asked to enter my driver's license number. I never can remember it, and I never carry my license. When on a bicycle I'd rather use something else for identification if I need it.

The last page view of the database was an information sheet with my confirmation number (which I wrote down; it looked important) and instructions to the next step in the process. It's printable, so I hit PRINT and waited.

And waited.

And called the cute redhead over one more time.

"OK, joke's over. I'm waiting for this to print. What's the story?"

"It's not hooked up to a printer," she told me.

Oh.

She handed me a manila envelope, which has all the phone numbers and Web addresses to file the weekly claim. That's the next step. My day to call is Sunday, any time. Even at 4 a.m. It's automated, the cute redhead explained.

And it is. I'm looking at the instructions right now:

- Call the TelClaim computer.

- Enter your social security and PIN numbers.

- "Did you work?" Press 1 for YES or 9 for NO. To repeat a question, press 0. If you worked, enter how much you earned and press the STAR key.

- "Did you quit a job or were you dismissed from a job since filing your claim?" Press 1 for YES, 9 for NO.

- "Were you able to work, available for work, and looking for work as instructed by the claims office?" Press 1 for YES, 9 for NO.

- Press 1 if all these answers are correct. Press 9 if you want to change an answer.

- If these answers are correct, do not hang up until the computer tells you, "your claim has been accepted."

Gee, no wonder no one's working.

Despite those disquieting anticlimactic feelings, I was in and out of there in about 90 minutes, which was about half the time I'd expected. I only got to page 54 of the novel -- and that's only because I read some on the bus.

When I left, I didn't bother to check whether #917 was called yet. Probably not.

Oh, by the way ... "Divine Justice" is good so far. But then, I recommmend the whole Camel Club series.

M.O. in hard times: Ready, fire, aim

I don't know what's going on these days. I mean, it's got to be a full moon or something.

Whatever the cause, tempers are getting short. People are going off the deep end, shooting from the hip without aiming first.

I'd reported the first part of this before; the outburst of Congressman Joe Wilson (R, SC) during Barack Obama's speech to a joint session of Congress last week. Whether he was right or wrong in calling Obama a liar is moot, but the man did go off in a most public and undignified way. Earlier today, Wilson told local radio show host Rocky D that he "had a Town Hall moment." Says it all.

Then, there's Serena Williams. For at least a decade she and her sister owned women's tennis. Up against Kim Cljisters in the U.S. Open last week, she went nuts after the ref called her on a foot fault. Got loud and said something about where she'd like to shove the ball.

And on Sunday, Kanye West went bonkers. Now, I don't really know who this Kanye West is; I'd have to ask my younger friends who are more hip to this pop culture thing. But during an MTV music video awards ceremony, West got on stage and interrupted Taylor Swift's acceptance speech with a rant using lots of words beginning with the letter F.

Maybe these folks, who don't exactly have holes in their shoes, are feeling the pinch of the times too. It's a little hard for us working stiffs to understand what kind of pressure the Williamses, Wests, and Wilsons may feel, but it's there regardless.

I know that here on the mean streets of Anywheresburg, USA, people are getting slap crazy, as we say Down South. Short with other people. They're on edge, and sometimes completely over it. Watching out more for Numero Uno than before. And that's understandable. Times are squirelly. Those who have jobs are wondering how long they'll keep them, and those with a little money in the bank or a 401(k) are watching their balances shrink.

As our economy gets more uncertain, tranquilizer darts become essential survival gear.

We had a batch of layoffs at work last week, and I was one of four casualties in a small shop. OK, that's a personal thing, and my own situation doesn't really play into this topic. But for a 10-day period -- from the time my boss announced that layoffs were coming until the day the ax finally fell -- nobody was worth a flip at work. Everybody on the ol' totem pole guarded his own hindparts, from the lowest to the highest. No one was really sure where the cuts were to occur -- bottom or top. Also under scrutiny was whether the railroad company might shut the whole ramp down, as it incurred heavy losses in the past eight months or so.

Because of this uncertainty, all of us were on edge. There were one or two guys we were especially worried about. One guy was a crane operator, running heavy equipment, and we were concerned he might attempt to carve a whole new lane right on top of the office. He was chosen as Most Likely To Go Postal in our informal staff poll, and we had our escape routes mapped out in case we heard that crane engine roar.

For that week and a half, very little work got done. But once the ax fell, things started getting back to normal. Layoffs were announced Thursday, and three of those casualties showed up for work Friday to finish their terms. Kind of a sad scene -- Handshakes and hugs all around as the newly-minted ex-employees clocked out for the last time, and the folks in my department bought me lunch and gave me a nice card. But for all of us the pressure was off. For now, anyway.

Among truckers, this mess our politicians call an economy had them under the gun for several months and tempers were quite short there, too. More haulers were driving like idiots than before, cutting one another off in line, scaring people on the freeway, screaming that they were in a hurry to make some coin while it's still there. One trucking company -- the one most affected by the railroad's loss of its biggest client -- is likewise in a precarious position. I expect to see many of its drivers laid off within the month, and now they're getting crazy.

A few other haulers saw layoffs in the past few months, and there's more a spirit of every-man-for-himself among the survivors. I began to see more predatory practices. Truckers were hauling things I'd never seen them haul before. Rather than one company handling one shipping company, the lines were blurred. As an example, Bridge Terminal Trucking (BTT) used to haul all Maersk containers. It was an exclusive contract. Now four or five companies are pulling them, and I used to rag those drivers about all the starving BTT drivers. The usual response? "Screw 'em."

Strangely enough, the one place where everyone seemed at a low key was at the unemployment office. I'm serious. At least things are a little more certain there. It's a lot easier to operate -- or at least hold your mud -- when some ax isn't hanging over your head.

Either that, or those tranquilizer darts are taking effect.

Congressman Joe Wilson, minutes ago: "I had a Town Hall moment."
~ E

The Senate voted, 87-7, to stop funding ACORN. Ah, the power of video.
~ E

Actor Patrick Swayze (Dirty Dancing, Road House) dies of pancreatic cancer.
~ E

Hoax has pretend terrorists attack nonexistent town

We passed the eighth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks unscathed, except for a suicide bombing by a nonexistent group on an equally nonexistent town.

In fact, the only real thing about this "attack" was the press coverage. In Germany, the DPA wire service -- which is similar to the Associated Press -- was all over this one, after an attack on the town of Bluewater was thwarted and The Berlin Boys rap group arrestedin the plot.

Except the town, which reportedly straddles the Colorado River between San Bernardino County, California and La Paz County, Arizona, doesn't really exist. And neither does the Berlin Boys group.

According to Wired:

The work of German filmmakers peddling a satirical movie called Short Cut to Hollywood, the elaborate hoax involved at least two faked websites, a faked Wikipedia entry and California phone numbers for "public safety" officials that were actually being answered by hoaxsters in Germany using Skype ... the hoax has transfixed this country. It prompted a 1,000-word tome on the website of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Germany’s most respected newspaper, and even a press conference denouncing the incident by the DPA – the German wire service responsible for first disseminating the news about the "attack" ...

There really is a Bluewater, kinda sorta. Although the "official town website" carries a link to the Berlin Boys and is probably fake, there are some other indicators. Sperling's Best Places lists Bluewater with a population of 331 (counting dogs?) and not much else. Wrapped among the Colorado River Indian Reservation, the nearest California town is Earp and the closest anything is the Bluewater Casino in Parker, Arizona. Earp is so insignificant that I haven't found population figures for the town, but 1,545 people live in the 92242 Zip code, where the town sits. (The Web site ZipSkinny, where I got this information, reports that no schools are listed in that area. That's how small the place is.)

Out there, you just might see roadrunners using oven mitts to pick up lizards on those hot days.

Part of the target's "appeal" is that it's so remote.

... locals were blissfully unaware of the hoax that involved their sparsely populated resort area, whose greatest claim to fame is a nearby casino. Hardly anyone lives on the California side of Bluewater, says Dorothy Randall, who runs the Bermuda Palms RV Park in Earp. There’s no city hall or council. The area is called Bluewater by locals, so it wouldn’t make sense for a suicide bombing to have occurred in town anyway, because there really is no town to begin with, Randall said. "There’s not much here."

I lived in Bullhead City, Arizona for five years (and drove by Earp to get there) but I'd never heard of the place. The only Bluewater I knew was the name of my old voting precinct in Bullhead. I've driven by Nothing (along Highway 93, with a population of 4 and, last I heard, enjoying a renaissance) but never saw a Bluewater.

Like, if the place was hit in a suicide bombing, who'd know?

Strange politics is universal, but SC brings giggles

Pitchfork Ben Tillman is but a memory, and probably a legend in some circles. John C. Calhoun's statue in downtown Charleston is a favorite rest stop for pigeons. Strom Thurmond has been dead for several years, although it's still hard to tell when the exact moment of flight took place.

But strangeness still seems to be the order of the day in South Carolina politics.

Witness the bizarre twists and turns in Gov. Mark Sanford's life. In his almost two terms at the state's helm, he showed himself a good, smart governor who only fell short in charisma and in playing well with others. Neither of these was enough to really handicap him, as he was considered prime presidential timber for 2012.

The whole Sanford story now reads like a bad movie script. Married man has midlife crisis so real you can paint it. Married man meets girl. Married man runs off with girl, leaving his job in the lurch. Married man's wife moves out with the kids. Married man swears other woman is his soul mate. Forget Days Of Our Lives; here's the mother of soap operas.

But while state Republicans -- Sanford's own party -- are looking at ways to escort Sanford out of office, another politico deflects some of the lightning. Relative unknown Joe Wilson pipes up during President Barack Obama's speech before a joint session of Congress and calls him a liar. Oops. Meanwhile, public perception is divided on Wilson: Hero or goat? Hey, I report. You decide.

Once again, recent events beg the question: What's up with South Carolina and politics? If you ask around, you'll probably get a bunch of different answers, mostly not complimentary. Some swear it's just because it's the South.

A close friend of mine grew up in the Lowcountry, and now lives up North. She's tried to lose all traces of Southernness, successfully so far. To hear her talk, you'd swear she was born and raised Up There (first time we talked by phone, she commented on how southern I sounded). To this day, about the only evidence she gives of her Down South roots is her love for sweet tea -- something that can not be found or duplicated above the Mason-Dixon Line (Note to y'all Up North: Sugar stirred in a glass of Lipton doesn't even come close).

To many Up There, a southern accent still brings a preconceived notion: Backwards country boy who probably shoots his dinner from his front porch. Uneducated. Barely literate. Family tree that doesn't fork. Confederate flag and rifle rack adorning the family truck. And racial relations? Don't ask.

I used to get asked that last question all the time from visitors from Up North. How's your race situation down here? Just fine, I'd say. How's yours up there?

It doesn't help any that South Carolina is a perennial tail-ender in those stats that folks love to toss around. Near the bottom in high school graduation rates. Among the lowest in literacy and the number of teeth per capita. Among the worst in obesity, diabetes, gun violence, and DUI fatalities. The rest of the southern states (not counting Florida, which was annexed by New York years ago) are also clustered toward the rear. If these statistics were horse races, you'd need searchlights to find us half the time. 

But it's our politics that really give people the giggles. Since I started reading newspapers, the only real Southern folks who made any kind of dent in presidential races were George Wallace and Jimmy Carter. Shoot, Jimmy's brother Billy would have been better in the White House, but only if you could catch him sober.

Now, it's Sanford and Wilson in the national arena, and the giggles continue.

My family is spread all over the country. Mom and Dad have lived in California for 50 years. My brother lives in upstate New York, and I've settled here in South Carolina. All of us are political watchers, and we've been known to talk a little trash to one another by email. So when Californians voted Gov. Gray Davis out of office in what amounts to little more than a coup d'etat and replaced him with a movie actor, you know the comments flew thick and fast. Especially when you consider some of the folks who wanted to be governor. There were a few actors (including Gary Coleman, the wisecracking kid from Diff'rent Strokes), Hustler Magazine publisher Larry Flynt (who billed himself as "a smut peddler with a heart,") porno actress Mary Carey, who repeatedly flunked IQ tests on Howard Stern's show, and about a zillion others. Now California is a wreck, with state workers and unemployment recipients wondering whether they'll be paid by check or IOU this week. The state is overrun by illegal aliens, my old grade school is now around 70 percent Hispanic, and it's getting harder to find someone who habla the ingles these days.

And New York? Let's see. Even after Sanford's life took a dogleg left, Rudy Guliani's marital relations still make him look like a Boy Scout. Hillary Rodham Clinton redefined political ambition while a senator from the Empire State. Former Gov. Eliot Spitzer found his name on more call girl customer lists than useful legislation.

Now New York is led by a blind guy, and California by someone who doesn't speak English all that well. But lately I've been on the receiving end of much of the familial trash talk.

Oops. There's a possum lumbering across my front yard. Better get the shotgun; guess dinner will be the other white meat tonight.

Thirst overtakes common sense in Florida case

This makes sense ... might as well finish the beer before going to jail.

This is from the Miami Herald:

George R. Linthicum II (a.k.a. George Linthicum III) was waiting outside the store and followed the deputy inside, according to the report ... Linthicum, 47, of Bayou George, told the deputy that he had come into the store earlier and drank some beer. He said he didn’t have money to pay for the beer. He added that if he was going to jail, then he was going to finish the beer first ... when the deputy told him to come along, the report said, Linthicum became argumentative, raised his voice and “with an aggressive tone stated that he was going to finish the beer.”

I mean, think of all the sober people in China!

ACORN firings: Pimps, and performance artists

ACORN, the community activist coalition that took criticism for voter registration practices last year, is back in the news. The group ffired two employees who were seen on hidden-camera video giving tax advice to a man posing as a pimp and a woman who pretended to be a prostitute.

From USA Today:

Fox News Channel broadcast excerpts from the video Thursday. On the video, a man and woman visiting ACORN's Baltimore office asked about buying a house and how to account on tax forms for the woman's income. An ACORN employee advised the woman to list her occupation as "performance artist." The pair also claimed they planned to employ teenage girls from central America as prostitutes, and an ACORN employee suggested that up to three of the girls could be claimed as dependents, according to transcripts of the video posted online by conservative activist James O'Keefe ... O'Keefe told Fox he posed as the pimp and that he was shocked by the ACORN employees' helpfulness.

Just who is this Joe Wilson guy anyway?

South Carolina Congressman Joe Wilson, who had been so lightly regarded that even this Palmetto State resident had never heard of him, put himself on the map with a two-word outburst during President Obama's speech on health care during last night's joint session of Congress.

To Obama's claim that the proposed national health care plan would not be available to illegal aliens, Wilson shouted out, "You lie!" from his seat.

The congressman became a heckler from the cheap seats, or even from the peanut gallery. Here's a story from Slate (beware of popups):

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said, "I have never in my 29 years heard an outburst of that nature with reference to a president of the United States speaking as a guest of the House and Senate," while White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said, "No president has ever been treated like that. Ever." Is Obama really the first president to get heckled during an address to Congress? ... It depends on what you mean by heckle.

Wilson has since apologized, and Obama accepted the apology. But Newsweek columnist Kate Dailey penned an editorial calling Wilson a "healthcare hypocrite."

Cut the man some slack. He's passionate! I know this because he told me, in the sole message that blazes across his campaign Web site: JOE WILSON IS PASSIONATE ABOUT STOPPING GOVERNMENT RUN HEALTH CARE! ... except that he's not—at least not when it comes to his, and his family's, government-run health care. As a retired Army National Guard colonel, Wilson gets a lot of benefits (one of which, apparently, was not a full appreciation of the customs, traditions, and courtesies that mandate respect for one's commander in chief). And with four sons in the armed services, the entire Wilson brood has enjoyed multiple generations of free military medical coverage, known as TRICARE ... yes, it's true ...

As I mentioned, Wilson is a relative unknown among the 535 legislators who haunt the House and Senate, but this may change soon. In fact, you can call his extemporaneous outburst a career-maker and you won't be far off.

As an example, as I wrote this I looked up Wilson's official Congressional web site to get some background on the man -- like for starters, who is this guy? -- when I couldn't get very far:

Due to exceptionally high traffic, this site is temporarily unavailable ... please come back shortly.

Keep in mind, this was almost 20 hours after Wilson spoke his piece.

What's my take on Wilson's outburst? This is a tough one. Give him points for saying what needed to be said. In fact, this may have been the most intelligent thing uttered in the Capitol that day. But take every one of those points away -- plus a few more for good measure -- for Wilson blowing his cool. Despite all rumors and indications to the contrary, Congress is populated by adults having a serious discussion, with our national way of life at stake.

I guarantee you'll hear more of this Joe Wilson character. With a shout, he deep-sixed any idea of him being ignored. It's more than 15 minutes of fame for him.

Time will tell, though, whether he will become a force in Congress, or a farce.

McHenry: What's with all these czars?

Patrick McHenry, a Congressman from North Carolina, wants to know if those 44 so-called "czars" in the Obama Administration are really necessary.

McHenry, a Republican, says there's a problem with these officials, who are appointed by the President without going through the Senate confirmation process,and he wants a hearing to find out more.

His comments came after green-jobs czar Van Jones' current practices and past comments helped force his resignation.

This is from McHenry's office:

“Each of the two possible scenarios here is troubling ... if the czars have high-level, decision-making authority as their titles would indicate, then it is my concern that their appointment without Senate approval represents a circumvention of our Constitutionally-mandated confirmation process.  On the other hand, if the czars have no actual power, then I am equally concerned that taxpayers are fronting the bill for the salaries of these figureheads and their staff ..."

Here's my take. Anyone who actually enjoys being called a czar should be watched. Closely.

Will Obama call for a deadline for Congress to act on health care bill? It sure sounds like he'll try.
~ E

Parents using social media to monitor offspring

There's news for the younger set: Mom and Dad are on Facebook!

Eeeewwww!!

According to the Wall Street Journal, parents are using social networking sites to monitor their young.

Check it out (but watch out for the click-through ad):

"Facebook is kind of like a parenting tool," says Joel O'Driscoll, a 41-year-old father of eight in Woodside, Calif. Mr. O'Driscoll likes to keep tabs on whom his 18-year-old daughter, Holly, is friends with on Facebook—especially the boys ... several times recently, he says, he's used information he discovered on his daughter's Facebook page to spark a discussion with her in person, most recently about the need for a boy to ask her out by calling, rather than texting or emailing ... "It's a good way to have some contact in your child's life," says Mr. O'Driscoll, an executive at a consulting firm ... Holly O'Driscoll says she's fine with her dad monitoring her friends on Facebook. "I think it's sensible," she says. Still, she admits she sometimes blocks him from seeing her status updates, explaining she doesn't want him to see how often she's on Facebook.

While this isn't quite the same thing, often the first scrap of news my own parents may get from my world might be this blog, or my Twitter account. OK, I'm sometimes a little tardy writing email. Again, this isn't the same thing, and keep in mind I'm probably older than most of the parents who are keeping track of their offspring.

Meanwhile, the kids are fighting back -- with tongue firmly implanted in cheek:

... so, you finally caved. You've accepted a friend request from your Mom, Dad, crazy Aunt Ida, and your college roommate’s newly divorced mother. Well here's your chance to get back at them for taking away your public privacy ... email us at:
myparentsjoinedfacebook@gmail.com
because we want to laugh at your Mom’s ridiculous Facebook status and the embarrassing message your Dad wrote on your wall too! If you want your relative to remain anonymous include that in the email ...
... Family. Can't Facebook with 'em, can't unFriend 'em!