Fish Fear Me

Exactly

Just for the record, this common man does not envy or resent that President Obama flew up to New York just to take his wife to a show. I spent yesterday working with dirt and was too tired to do much of anything last night. But you know what? Both are ok. I did my gardening yesterday because I wanted to. It felt good. And I would much rather have a president who exudes confidence and style in these times than a Jimmy Carter. There's a however here though, you knew that didn't you?

However, there is this supposed climate crisis going on that is supposedly caused by humanity's profligate use of fossil fuels. As Rob from Say Anything writes:

I wouldn’t have such a problem with this, except that Obama’s the guy who is regulating what kind of cars we can drive for the sake of global warming.  He’s going to put a carbon tax on us in the form of cap and trade.  He said on the campaign trail that Americans can’t just set their thermostats wherever they want.  Obama and his fellow liberals want to regulate just about every aspect of our lives, all in the name of the “climate change crisis.”

Yet, Obama can hop on a private jet and take his on a “date night”?  I’m told that I have to sacrifice, but it’s all private jets and jets and luxury lifestyles for Obama and the rest of the liberal elite?

That's it exactly. Don't give me that "Thee, but not for me" crap, that just pisses me off. Three friggin' jets for him and his entourage so he can take his wife to a show and get back in time to sleep in his own bed. Reading various Democrats bending over backwards to defend Obama on this makes me laugh. Not the good laugh, the cynical "oh you freakin' hypocrites" laugh.

Special recognition goes to Alan Colmes, who brays, "...here’s Ronald and Nancy Reagan backstage at “Sugar Babies”, visiting with Mickey Rooney and Ann Miller on March 13, 1981." Well yeah, he also spent at least one night in New York and conducted some business while he was there. You dumbass, you think we can't check?

When Obama and the rest of the Democrats start acting like climate change is real I might take them seriously. Might. Either they don't really believe it though, or they are so arrogant as to think they can live like Soviet politburo members while the rest of us suck it up. Does that rest easy with you?

Sodbusting Sucks

The 10' by 15' veggie garden bed is finally ready. I downsized it by 5' because it turned out to be much more work than I had hoped. The first blow came when the small rototiller I borrowed was not even close to the task of cutting through decades old sod. Ok, I thought, I'll turn the sod with a spade and then give it a go.

Nope. I had hoped the tiller would sort of just chew the remaining roots to shreds, but they were still too much for it to handle. Instead of shredding what was left of the chunks of sod, the grass roots just got tangled up in the tiller. I've never used a tiller on a garden that hadn't been previously tilled, so I'm not sure if I was off in my expectations or if the rototiller was just too small.

After a couple of hours of busting up clods of sod with a spade and by hand, things seemed pretty clean of roots or anything else that would screw up the tiller. It was just a matter of a few passes to make sure everything was good and mixed in, some smoothing and grading, and the bed would be ready.

Naturally, at that point I managed to find a 3" stone that perfectly jammed the tiller. I'm pretty sure I'm going to have to partially disassemble the thing to get it out. I pondered that over a beer and a smoke for a few minutes, and then decided to just finish things by hand. That chewed up the rest of the time I had for planting today, but it was ok to do some fairly mindless work on this nice day and the veggies will be planted tomorrow.

There may be a little ad lib action tomorrow, but I think 4 or 5 tomato plants, 4 bell pepper plants, carrots, green onions, radishes, green beans, and maybe some pole beans. This is a bit of a learning year for me, so we'll see how things fit.

Now, what to do about those pesky wabbits?

Saturday Notes

Desmond made me crabby yesterday, so I'll swing the pendulum to some more lighthearted fare this morning.

I heard this on the radio yesterday while heading home:

    Never say a harsh word about a man until you have walked a mile in his shoes.

    By then he'll be a mile away and you'll have his shoes.

That was attributed to Ronald Reagan, but I see that Jack Handey is also credited on the internet. Whatever, it cracked me up.
---
Stacy McCain has what will likely be the line of the day today:

If Obama's lost Ted Rall . . .
. . . he's lost un-America:

Ted Rall's disappointment in President Obama is so great that he is asking for him to resign. This amuses me, and if you don't know why, you don't know Ted Rall.
---
James Lileks:

Did you know the Chinese character for “Crisis” is the same as the one for “Opportunity?” Also the same as the one for “rammed up the fundament with a 36-spiked hot pole dipped in lemon juice and battery acid.” True.

---

Toilet Bowl Diver

One of those things best left without too much discussion. Sammy the Wonder Dog would also heed the siren call of the porcelain goddess if left unchecked. Why dogs will pass by a perfectly good water dish to drink out of the toilet I don't know. I'm pretty sure I don't want to know and therefore I will think about it no more.
---
Another gorgeous day here in the Twin Cities, though we could use some rain. Off to the gardening...

Gobsmacked

This is the type of story that makes my head hurt:

On paper, he has 20 possibly 21 children.

With a minimum wage job, he can't afford to support them all.

What is the state to do?

Desmond Hatchett, 29, told WVLT he wasn't out to set a record, though he certainly holds it in Knox County Juvenile Child Support Court.

The dude is 29 and he has 20 or 21 kids.

I desperately want to beat the living shit out of Desmond. I want to go medieval on him. No wait, I want to go biblical on him. Irresponsible son of a bitch.

"I didn't intend to have this many. It just happened," Hatchett said.

It didn't "just happen," we all know that. Desmond, and the at least 11 women who gave birth to his children, just didn't give a shit.

I'm going to quit before I write something I'll really regret.

Get That Boy Some Help

The Strib has a story today about a 14-year-old boy who witnesses saw attack a flock of geese:

Sandy Slathar doesn't even like geese all that much.

But when she looked out her Minneapolis office window Tuesday and saw a teenage boy grab a stick and attack a flock of geese along the Mississippi River, the 47-year-old Coon Rapids woman tore down four flights of stairs to defend the fowl.

At least one gosling was dead. The story says the boy was arrested for cruelty to animals and released to his mother. He should have been held for a psych exam as far as I'm concerned.

On occasion I've seen very small children hurt or toy with animals. In every case(so far) it was a matter of ignorance and not deliberate cruelty. I don't think we are born with empathy, it's something that in the beginning has to be taught and formed. It's one of many critical tasks of parenting, to see that empathy take shape. Then at the right age you have to once again help the child get perspective once they begin to grasp the inherent violence of nature.

The absence of empathy at age 14 though, is huge danger sign, like an unprovoked attack from a dog. If it's my dog, that dog is going to be put down. If that was my boy, any boy at that age actually, it should be do not pass go, go directly to therapy. And I'm not a big fan of therapy these days. My gut tells me we over-medicate children in this country when what they really need more is firm guidance, some understanding, and love. This kid though, he needs some help, before he turns into a real monster.

Do You Smell Smoke?

Maybe, maybe not. I think it would be wise to be cautious and first just sort out the facts regarding this:

Evidence appears to be mounting that the Obama administration has systematically targeted for closing Chrysler dealers who contributed to Republicans. What started earlier this week as mainly a rumbling on the Right side of the Blogosphere has gathered some steam today with revelations that among the dealers being shut down are a GOP congressman and closing of competitors to a dealership chain partly owned by former Clinton White House chief of staff Mack McLarty.

The basic issue raised here is this: How do we account for the fact millions of dollars were contributed to GOP candidates by Chrysler who are being closed by the government, but only one has been found so far that is being closed that contributed to the Obama campaign in 2008?

As Rob pointed out yesterday:

Not particularly remarkable. The dealers on Chrysler's list were mostly small, family-owned businesses. That demographic tends to lean GOP.

Other evidence seems to back that up. It was long ago established though, that the mere appearance of impropriety is the standard that should launch an investigation. If Dick Cheney had sat on the board of Chrysler and people were alleging that Democrats were being targeted you can bet the major news organizations would be on this story like white on rice.

These are the things I think we know at this point:

1. The process that Chrysler used to determine which dealerships would be cut has not been as transparent as advertised.
2. Underperforming dealerships were supposed to be the targets of the cuts. A number of dealers who didn't make the cut are claiming to be profitable and strong performers for Chrysler.
3. At least one chain of dealerships owned by some heavy hitting Democrats is either getting pretty lucky or there's something fishy going on.

This all may be nothing and I hope that it is. If it's not, we're talking some serious corruption here. Not just political corruption, but the corruption of the law and the free enterprise system on possibly a large scale. If I was an editor at a major news organization, I would think that might be worth at least taking a couple of junior reporters away from massaging the latest special interest press release and having them do some real reporting.

I can't leave this topic without adding an "unintended consequences alert. It looks to me that the real beneficiaries of the cut in dealers are the surviving dealers themselves. This will reduce competition and possibly allow them to raise prices in their local markets. The check on that is people can generally still shop other brands, though GM is also reducing dealerships.  Reduced competition is generally not favorable to consumers when it comes to price or service and I wonder what kind of effect that will have in the long run. In the short-term it will make those dealerships more profitable. But long-term I wonder if it will make them sloppy and arrogant, and abusing their local Chrysler monopoly(in some cases).

Competition is healthy for good organizations, it keeps them on their toes and focused on serving the customer. What will happen when it is gone or diminished? I think any number of historical examples can give us the answer, and it may have a bigger effect on Chrysler in the long run than people realize now.

Fran the Man Weighs in on Favre

The Strib's Vikings blog has the scoop on Fran the Man talking to an Atlanta radio station about Brett Favre:

“I think it’s despicable. What he put the Packers through last year was not good,” said Tarkenton, who played for the Vikings from 1961-66 and again from 1972-78. ”Here’s an organization that was loyal to him for 17, 18 years, provided stability of organization, provided players. It just wasn’t about Brett Favre. In this day and time, we have glorified the Brett Favre’s of the world so much, they think it’s about them. He goes to New York and bombs. He’s 39 years old. How would you like Ray Nitschke in his last year [playing for] the Vikings, or I retire, and go play for the Packers? I kind of hope it happens, so he can fail.”

Well, Fran Tarkenton was never one to mince words, but that last line seems a little over the top.

Lots more there at the link. I'll highlight one more bit that is the reason I think the Vikings should now avoid Favre if he decides he does want to play:

"He’s been a great player, there’s no question about it, but it’s all about him. It is supposed to be all about your team. If you’re going to be the quarterback of your team, you need to be there in the offseason workouts in March and April. Peyton Manning’s there. Tom Brady’s there.”

I don't know this, but I'm suspicious that Favre has delayed fixing his arm so he can swoop in at the last minute, having successfully avoided those offseason workouts. If he stays retired, then I will be wrong on that and owe him an apology. If he decides he want to play though, I think that will be why he waited until the last minute. That's not the kind of guy anyone wants on their team. It just isn't.

Not Really

So, a new GOP think tank that wants to be a "Center for American Progress for the right":

As John McCain ’s top domestic and economic policy adviser during last year’s presidential campaign, Douglas Holtz-Eakin got a firsthand look at the broad problems the Republican Party now faces: a shrinking base, a narrowing appeal among different demographic groups and an inability — in his view — to generate fresh ideas or effectively sell the ones it has.

In the wake of another chastening set of GOP defeats at the polls, Holtz-Eakin is now setting out to address those problems head-on. He’s developing a proposal for a new think tank that he describes as a “Center for American Progress for the right” — a reference to the liberal think tank that has supplied staff and policy proposals to the Obama administration and developed new ways to market its ideas.

I don't know, from the article it sounds more like Heritage-lite. Which is fine, but not truly emulating CAP. If they want to really do that, they need to launch a right equivalent to Think Progress. That would mean a website that would be brutal and relentless in demonizing Obama in particular and Democrats in general. One that would distort words and deeds in clever ways that leave the reader thinking libelous thoughts, without the website actually committing libel. And never, ever, give the opposition ANY credit. All bad, all the time.

In short, create the GOP's own reality-based community useful idiots.

Or maybe the GOP could finally wake up and just actually fight the lies and distortions from the left instead of ignoring them. Sort of an anti-Think Progress that takes every post and rips it for the extreme rhetoric that it is bound to contain. If Holtz-Eakin really understands what CAP has done, he will understand the role that Think Progress plays in serving raw meat, tainted but effective raw meat, to the masses on the left. The right does not need to emulate that, but it does need to counter it and discredit that poison in an organized way. I'm not holding my breath.

How Now, Frowned at Cow?

Like all kids my age, I grew up with the legend of Mrs. O'Leary's cow starting the Great Chicago Fire of 1871. I long ago learned that that little factoid was made up, but I had never heard any other explanation for what started that conflagration. I had also heard of the Peshtigo, Wisconsin fire, though for some reason I had never realized that both fires occurred on the same night.

Last week I read this post from Marie, and she asks:

Did you know that on the night the Great Chicago Fire started, October 8, 1871, there were many more fires across the Upper Midwest?

Well, no I didn't. Marie points to a post from Barbara D'Amato that takes a look at a comet being the culprit for the many fires that raged that night across the Midwest:

The meteor theory was discounted for years, but recently Robert Wood, an aeronautical engineer and physicist who had worked for McDonnell Douglas and Douglas Aircraft, returned to the comet explanation with more up-to-date information.

Not the tail of the comet, but Biela’s Comet itself, which had split in two in 1845 and had been seen to be breaking up in its previous passes near the earth. The body of the comet, Wood says, was likely made up of frozen acetylene, methane, and other combustible gas. Heated by the friction of entry into the earth’s atmosphere and fed by the oxygen in our air, the chunks became enormous balls of fire.

I have no idea how sound that theory is, but it seems a reasonable possibility to me. Actually more plausible than the cow knocking over the lantern, which I have to say I was a bit skeptical of as a kid anyway. Even at age seven or so I was, like seriously? A cow?

Great Moments in Setting Expectations

Sobbing Kindergarteners Snubbed for Steelers?

Thursday was supposed to be the highlight of the year for more than 100 kindergarteners from Stafford County, Va. They got up early and took a chartered bus to the White House for a school field trip. But when they arrived, all the 5-year-olds got was a lesson in disappointment.

The buses from Conway Elementary arrived at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue a little later than planned, and they were locked out.

"We were going to the White House, but we couldn’t get in so I felt sad," 5-year-old Cameron Stine said.

Just wait until he grows up and realizes the bill that previous generations have left for him and his friends. Might as well get them used to disappointment now.