Kane Watch: Blogging Welfare

I've got an idea for Gene: How bout all of us white bloggers create a blogging welfare system, and start giving some of our posts to the minorities since minorities are at a blogging disadvantage? That way, none of them will have to actually do anything to have a blog!

They won't have to put in the time, effort or research to write anything!!! Since it doesn't cost anything to blog, and since there are no gatekeepers to blogging it's really the only logical thing that can be done, right? I mean, clearly, anyone who's not white is at a disadvantage when it comes to blogging because white folks actually have the desire to put thoughts in to words that are published on the internet, and that's just not fair!

Okay. I'm being incredibly facetious, but it's my guess that this is the kind of blogosphere Kane is advocating for. Seriously! Just look at this comment:

It was clear the blogosphere in Milwaukee is similar to most institutions in town: predominantly white and filled with folks who only want to talk about race relations if they can blame all of the problems in the black community on Ald. Mike McGee.

The only similarity I see that can be made between the world in general and blogging is that it takes a little effort to get anything done, on either front. If anyone wants a blog, all they have to do is start typing. I can't make anyone's fingers do the talking for 'em.

But I digress. The real point here, and the most telling aspect of Kane's entire column, is that there are plenty of diverse voices around the cheddarsphere. Kane doesn't bother to do any research before making such sweeping claims, and he just doesn't recognize anyone that doesn't sound like him.

He's the worst kind of narcissist. He's a racissist*. And that's all I have to say about that.

*A racissist is one who believes that the ethnicity of one's peers is valid if and only if said peers reflect the exact same beliefs as oneself.

From the Department of Scientificology

Via Drudge, a report indicating that lesbians are twice as likely to be obese than heterosexual women.

The report also found that lesbians are:

• 4 times as likely to wear fanny packs,
• 22 times as likely to have femullets,
• 900 times as likely to get a job hosting The View

Next week, the same group is slated to release a report that gay men are three times as likely to land the role as interior decorator on home remodeling shows.

Seperated at Birth?

I think they had to be seperated because all the Funyons in the world couldn't keep them from one another's throats.

The Meek Shall Inherit the Earth

Buzz from The Mouth of Madness rebuts an article by Tom Plate in which he states:

These students were not killed by a Korean, they were killed by a 9 mm handgun
and a .22-caliber handgun.

Plate relates his own experience of being robbed at gunpoint and how his "rapid response" of surrendering was the best thing to do.

Buzz eloquently responds...

Mr. Plate, I am glad you choose not to own a firearm. You are one of many
American citizens that would be unable to use one properly. Too timid, too
defeatist, too meek to defend yourself. In your hands, a gun would be a
liability. Don’t pretend that you portray everyone though. There are men in this
country that are able to defend themselves, and even those around them.
Training, discipline, and intelligence are necessary to properly wield a firearm
in a dangerous situation. Believe me, I am not suggesting we arm the entire
populace. No, there are too many out there like you, Mr. Plate. Don’t assume
everyone should think like you, I for one am glad that many of us do not.

People either incapable or unwilling to defend themselves should be the ones we fear most when they try to impose their cowardly beliefs on the rest of us.

Gooder Voting

Some time back I came up with this crazy idea that everyone should get 1 1/5 of a vote. The 1/5 part would be meaningless unless five voters got together as a bloc, agreed on how they would vote on a particular item, and their five votes would then be counted as six. The idea behind this was that voters would be encouraged to engage one another on the issues, discuss the pros and cons and somehow come to a consensus before entering the voting booth. This seemed, to me at least, somewhat of an answer to the "uninformed" voter. Logistically I had no idea how it would work but, hey, I was trying.

Steven Landsburg has an idea of his own...

So if I could make just one change in the American political system, it would be
to give each voter two votes in every congressional election. You'd get one vote
to cast in your own district and another to cast in the district of your choice.
When a congressman from West Virginia funnels taxpayers' money from fifty states
to his home district, I want him to face the prospect that taxpayers from fifty
states will share their feelings with him on election day.

[...]

...what I'm really saying is "Let's think hard---and creatively---about ways to sever the link between parochial interests and congressional incentives."

Okay, maybe not the same motivation behind it, but I like where he's going.

[h/t Instapundit]

You get what you deserve

Immediately following Alderman Michael McGee, Jr.'s victory in a recall effort, I pointed out to those who voted for him that they'll get what they deserve.

Well, it would seem they now deserve broken windows.

The Nuge on Guns

Nugent: Gun-free zones are recipe for disaster
By Ted Nugent
Special to CNN


Editor's note: Rock guitarist Ted Nugent has sold more than 30 million albums. He's also a gun rights activist and serves on the board of directors of the National Rifle Association. His program, "Ted Nugent Spirit of the Wild," can be seen on the Outdoor Channel.

Read an opposing take on gun control from journalist Tom Plate: Let's lay down our right to bear arms
WACO, Texas (CNN) -- Zero tolerance, huh? Gun-free zones, huh? Try this on for size: Columbine gun-free zone, New York City pizza shop gun-free zone, Luby's Cafeteria gun-free zone, Amish school in Pennsylvania gun-free zone and now Virginia Tech gun-free zone.

Anybody see what the evil Brady Campaign and other anti-gun cults have created? I personally have zero tolerance for evil and denial. And America had best wake up real fast that the brain-dead celebration of unarmed helplessness will get you killed every time, and I've about had enough of it.

Nearly a decade ago, a Springfield, Oregon, high schooler, a hunter familiar with firearms, was able to bring an unfolding rampage to an abrupt end when he identified a gunman attempting to reload his .22-caliber rifle, made the tactical decision to make a move and tackled the shooter.

A few years back, an assistant principal at Pearl High School in Mississippi, which was a gun-free zone, retrieved his legally owned Colt .45 from his car and stopped a Columbine wannabe from continuing his massacre at another school after he had killed two and wounded more at Pearl.

At an eighth-grade school dance in Pennsylvania, a boy fatally shot a teacher and wounded two students before the owner of the dance hall brought the killing to a halt with his own gun.

More recently, just a few miles up the road from Virginia Tech, two law school students ran to fetch their legally owned firearm to stop a madman from slaughtering anybody and everybody he pleased. These brave, average, armed citizens neutralized him pronto.

My hero, Dr. Suzanne Gratia Hupp, was not allowed by Texas law to carry her handgun into Luby's Cafeteria that fateful day in 1991, when due to bureaucrat-forced unarmed helplessness she could do nothing to stop satanic George Hennard from killing 23 people and wounding more than 20 others before he shot himself. Hupp was unarmed for no other reason than denial-ridden "feel good" politics.

She has since led the charge for concealed weapon upgrade in Texas, where we can now stop evil. Yet, there are still the mindless puppets of the Brady Campaign and other anti-gun organizations insisting on continuing the gun-free zone insanity by which innocents are forced into unarmed helplessness. Shame on them. Shame on America. Shame on the anti-gunners all.

No one was foolish enough to debate Ryder truck regulations or ammonia nitrate restrictions or a "cult of agriculture fertilizer" following the unabashed evil of Timothy McVeigh's heinous crime against America on that fateful day in Oklahoma City. No one faulted kitchen utensils or other hardware of choice after Jeffrey Dahmer was caught drugging, mutilating, raping, murdering and cannibalizing his victims. Nobody wanted "steak knife control" as they autopsied the dead nurses in Chicago, Illinois, as Richard Speck went on trial for mass murder.

Evil is as evil does, and laws disarming guaranteed victims make evil people very, very happy. Shame on us.

Already spineless gun control advocates are squawking like chickens with their tiny-brained heads chopped off, making political hay over this most recent, devastating Virginia Tech massacre, when in fact it is their own forced gun-free zone policy that enabled the unchallenged methodical murder of 32 people.

Thirty-two people dead on a U.S. college campus pursuing their American Dream, mowed-down over an extended period of time by a lone, non-American gunman in illegal possession of a firearm on campus in defiance of a zero-tolerance gun law. Feel better yet? Didn't think so.

Who doesn't get this? Who has the audacity to demand unarmed helplessness? Who likes dead good guys?

I'll tell you who. People who tramp on the Second Amendment, that's who. People who refuse to accept the self-evident truth that free people have the God-given right to keep and bear arms, to defend themselves and their loved ones. People who are so desperate in their drive to control others, so mindless in their denial that they pretend access to gas causes arson, Ryder trucks and fertilizer cause terrorism, water causes drowning, forks and spoons cause obesity, dialing 911 will somehow save your life, and that their greedy clamoring to "feel good" is more important than admitting that armed citizens are much better equipped to stop evil than unarmed, helpless ones.

Pray for the families of victims everywhere, America. Study the methodology of evil. It has a profile, a system, a preferred environment where victims cannot fight back. Embrace the facts, demand upgrade and be certain that your children's school has a better plan than Virginia Tech or Columbine. Eliminate the insanity of gun-free zones, which will never, ever be gun-free zones. They will only be good guy gun-free zones, and that is a recipe for disaster written in blood on the altar of denial. I, for one, refuse to genuflect there.

Squeaky Wheels

Eugene Kane directs us to an article by Rochelle Riley in the Detroit Free Press where she says...

Please stop calling Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson every time you want to know
how we feel. They do not speak for all of us, and we're tired of you asking them
to try.

Kane echoes these sentiments and, to an extent, I have to agree. But I wonder how long the likes of Sharpton and Jackson will put up with being ignored as the "black voices" in America. Here are two men who have made a lifetime of speaking for all of black America in spite of their never being elected to any such position of representation (to the best of my knowledge). In fact, it's their loud voices that make them so appealing to the media, black or white. If they're suddenly pushed aside by the media, I highly doubt they would simply fade away into the woodwork. Their voices would only get louder, the antics more preposterous, and the media would be hard-pressed to ignore a good soundbite or any resulting firestorm.

Much as in the case of violent acts committed or threats issued by radical Muslims where few other Muslims will stand up and condemn it, rarely do we hear passionate voices from the part of black America that disagrees with Sharpton and Jackson. This is why I only agree with this to an extent. While there's no denying the media is complicit in portraying these two as the voice of black Americans, there is also a responsibility among black Americans to let the rest of the nation know that they are not the only voices. Then, and only then, will Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson be relegated to where they belong, wherever that may be.

Why yes! I am that awesome!

Create Your Own PaloozaHead - Visit Lollapalooza.com

Skepticism doesn’t sell as well as hysteria

Here's a great read on conspiracy theorists from Bill Whittle of Eject! Eject! Eject!...

...what fascinates me is the emotional motive of people who, presented with
overwhelming evidence that the events that transpired on November 22nd, 1963 or
September 11th, 2001 really happened exactly the way it appeared, continue to
spin ever more elaborate webs in order to get to a place they need to be
emotionally. Who are you going to believe: them or your own lying eyes?

All of this conspiracy nonsense comes after the fact. What we saw on
those days was clear and vital and unmistakably obvious. In the case of the
Kennedy assassination we are asked to believe – against all physical evidence to
the contrary – what a few professional witnesses recall for pay ten or twenty or
thirty years after the fact. Some guy who claims to see a puff of smoke on the
grassy knoll is now a world-wide celebrity and not just some dude with time on
his hands on a November afternoon. (And don't be deterred by the fact that a
musket firing black powder was the last firearm that emitted "a puff of smoke;"
perhaps Kennedy was murdered by a re-animated Stonewall Jackson. Prove it didn't
happen!)

I’ve met a number of these people. I know this is harsh, but I’m sick
of watching the damage they are doing to this civilization: these people are, to
a man, complete losers. Losers. They are desperate and sad people who need to
believe in some dark secret to give meaning to their lives.

Read all of it here.

Word Thought

Welfare Queen

Please post your thoughts on this phrase in the comments section. More to follow...

Imus/Rappers Thought

So rappers should be overlooked for using racist and sexist remarks in their lyrics because they are entertainers.

Critics of talk radio often refer to the hosts not as serious journalists, but entertainers.

So...

Polling the Masses

Regular readers of Ask Me Later will recall that for the last mid-term election I announced my candidacy for darned near everything. Considering my less than stellar performance, I took the opportunity at the last Drinking Right to poll some attendees on how they felt about various items on my platform.

Here's Aaron telling me what he though of my proposal to tax podcasting.

Fred gave his two cents in response to my proposal to have RUSD take over management of the entire state's school system.

Steve pretty much liked everything I stood for. In fact, he really liked it. Here he is showing me how many times he voted for me.

I have no idea who this guy is. He just wanted to flip me off. But I'm used to it.

Finally, Nick told me what he thinks about my position on government financed/controlled EVERYTHING! I think it's a long-needed sweeping reform. I also think Nick disagrees.

Of course, just because these photos appear here there's no reason to believe that someday these very same photos won't also appear here.

Nobody is safe. NOBODY!

I'm no journalist...

...but does anyone else see any problems with this post?

Kane Watch: Uncle Tom

Eugene Kane could have saved himself a lot of time writing this post.

Might I suggest that next time he just makes it easier on himself and write something like:

Jason Whitlock = Uncle Tom

After all, why should he dance around what we all know he's saying anyway?

Imus, Sharpton and Jackson

Jason Whitlock, an AOL sports columnist, on the Don Imus incident and why Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson have no moral authority in criticizing his statement:

None of this over-the-top grandstanding does Black America any
good.

We can’t win the war over verbal disrespect and racism when we have
so obviously and blatantly surrendered the moral high ground on the issue. Jesse
and Al might win the battle with Imus and get him fired or severely neutered.
But the war? We don’t stand a chance in the war. Not when everybody knows
“nappy-headed ho’s” is a compliment compared to what we allow black rap artists
to say about black women on a daily basis.

We look foolish and cruel for kicking a man who went on Sharpton’s radio
show and apologized. Imus didn’t pull a Michael Richards and schedule an
interview on Letterman. Imus went to the Black vice president’s house,
acknowledged his mistake and asked for forgiveness.

Let it go and let God.

We have more important issues to deal with than Imus. If we are unwilling
to clean up the filth and disrespect we heap on each other, nothing will change
with our condition. You can fire every Don Imus in the country, and our
incarceration rate, fatherless-child rate, illiteracy rate and murder rate will
still continue to skyrocket.

A man who doesn’t respect himself wastes his breath demanding that others
respect him.

Read all of it here.

Ewwwww...

Wanna see what's in this croc's mouth?

Follow this link to find out what's under the bunny.

RIP Kurt Vonnegut

Kurt Vonnegut, arguably one of America's greatest authors, has passed away at the age of 84. Having read everything he's written and considering him the author that inspired me to read for my own enjoyment, this is a great loss. His talent for weaving together a story goes unmatched in spite of several authors giving it their darndest.

He was just that kind of machine and will be sorely missed.

Global Warming My A**!

The view from my office, April 11th, 2007.

Please, Global Warming, for the love of all that's holy, take me away!

Context and Usage

Cheap Shot

I realize there's little love lost between them, and that one of them has expended countless words on the other's relationships with her husband and colleagues, but this is just a cheap shot.

The sign of a good person is being above this sort of thing...not being able to match it.

UPDATE: James Wigderson and Dad29 both ask why this is even a story worth coverage.

UPDATE II: The Brawler does some digging and points out how hypocritical this is, including a comment from XOff indicating support he's received from the right side of the Cheddarsphere.

April Drinking Right

Drinking Right is tomorrow night at its usual place, Papa's Social Club at 77th and Burleigh.

I've been unable to make the past few due to either extreme illness or a scheduling conflict, but I'm going to try my darndest to make it to this one.

Also, I spent much of yesterday pickling my liver with very expensive wine, so I think it will be passed out before I even get there. That means I won't have it yelling at me throughout the evening.

Stupid liver.

MIT Prof on Global Warming

What most commentators—and many scientists—seem to miss is that the only thing
we can say with certainly about climate is that it changes. The earth is always
warming or cooling by as much as a few tenths of a degree a year; periods of
constant average temperatures are rare. Looking back on the earth's climate
history, it's apparent that there's no such thing as an optimal temperature—a
climate at which everything is just right. The current alarm
rests on the false assumption not only that we live in a perfect world,
temperaturewise, but also that our warming forecasts for the year 2040 are
somehow more reliable than the weatherman's forecast for next week.

Emphasis mine.

Read the rest here.

[h/t Drudge]

Isn't there a war to protest or something?

Right now I'm sitting in the UWM Union (don't ask) and just outside is a chalk announcement on the sidewalk for a "Mayfair Unfair" rally this afternoon at Mayfair and Center.

I think every person, adult or minor, who doesn't like the new Mayfair policy banning unsupervised teens needs to attend this rally and listen very carefully to the chants that Mayfair is unfair. Then they should also start chanting that life isn't fair either and nobody ever said it was. Then they should just go home and quit their bellyaching.

Good gosh I hate people.

Kane Watch: What a Real Youth Leader Looks Like

Eugene Kane recently stated in a blog post that the young people protesting the new rules at Mayfair Mall were leaders:

What's clear to me is young black people in Milwaukee have a serious public relations problem.... All I know, I'd hate to be a young black person in Milwaukee today with such baggage to carry. That's bascially what these young black leaders were trying to say during their protest over the new Mayfair Mall policies. I wonder if anybody heard them?

It's my own opinion that these kids are little more than whiners who believe it is the responsibility of business owners to provide entertainment and safe harbor to bored school kids. That's why, when I saw this story today, I thought I'd point out to Mr. Kane what young leaders really look like, and the type of actions they perform:

Waukesha West High School's National Honor Society Academic Decathlon team was in need of $10,000 to fund their trip to the National Championships in Hawaii.

As a result, the Messmer students plan to travel to Waukesha to hold a spaghetti dinner the night before the West team's departure for the national decathlon competition in Hawaii, with all of the meal's proceeds going to help pay for the cost of the trip.

The type of character this action has displayed is a rare thing, these days. And that's why I'm pleased to see the amount of attention it's received. These Messmer students don't seem to have a public relations problem at all. In fact, it's quite the opposite. And if any youth in the city of Milwaukee have earned the right to be called "leaders" as of late, my vote goes to these kids.

Those Poor, Poor Sex Offenders

AP is reporting on a story out of Miami, Florida that highlights five sex offenders currently living under a bridge. Due to sex offender regulations that prevent them from living near schools, parks and places for children, the men could not find suitable, legal housing.

So, what's it life on the street like for these poor souls?

...he and the other men fear for their lives, especially because of "crazy people who might try to come harm sex offenders."

"You just pray to God every night, so if you fall asleep for a minute or two, you know, nothing happens to you," said 30-year-old Javier Diaz, who arrived this week.

Talk about ironic. I think I've heard a victim of sexual assault make the same observation.

I guess I'm having a hard time feeling sorry for these criminals. If I had it my way sexual assault would be punishable by death. Given that opinion, living under a bridge doesn't seem so bad.

A Valuable Lesson

From Snopes, the Urban Legends Reference database, a story that turns out not to be an urban myth:

In September of 2005, a social studies schoolteacher from Arkansas did
something not to be forgotten. On the first day of school, with permission of
the school superintendent, the principal, and the building supervisor, she took
all of the desks out of the classroom. The kids came into first period, they
walked in; there were no desks. They obviously looked around and said, "Where's
our desks?"

The teacher said, "You can't have a desk until you tell me how you earn
them."

They thought, "Well, maybe it's our grades."

"No," she said.

"Maybe it's our behavior."

And she told them, "No, it's not even your behavior."

And so they came and went in the first period, still no desks in the
classroom. Second period, same thing. Third period. By early afternoon
television news crews had gathered in the class to find out about this crazy
teacher who had taken all the desks out of the classroom. The last period of the
day, the instructor gathered her class.

They were at this time sitting on the floor around the sides of the
room. She said, "Throughout the day no one has really understood how you earn
the desks that sit in this classroom ordinarily. Now I'm going to tell you."

She went over to the door of her classroom and opened it, and as she
did 27 U.S. veterans, wearing their uniforms, walked into that classroom, each
one carrying a school desk. And they placed those school desks in rows, and then
they stood along the wall. By the time they had finished placing the desks,
those kids for the first time I think perhaps in their lives understood how they
earned those desks.

Their teacher said, "You don't have to earn those desks. These guys did
it for you. They put them out there for you, but it's up to you to sit here
responsibly, to learn, to be good students and good citizens, because they paid
a price for you to have that desk, and don't ever forget it."

Happy Easter

The Pelosi Precedent

If and when a Democrat lands in the White House, does anyone think the precedent Nancy Pelosi is setting now of undermining the President will be something the party will come to regret?

As the Washington Post has put it, it would seem she's attempting to establish some sort of shadow presidency...and so far she's doing a pretty piss-poor job at it. Not only has she managed to send a mixed message to Syria regarding American foreign policy, she's doing a bang up job of mis-representing Israel's stance as well. And the legislation she proposed to strip Bush of his commander in chief authority over troops in Iraq is just plain un-Constitutional.

The United States will not fail as a nation because of a bad president. It may suffer, but it will not fail. Term limits and free elections will see to that. But when powerful elected officials so blatatantly ignore the rules of the game set forth in the Constitution and well-established practices regarding foreign relations and the structure of the government and its role in running this nation, then the failure of this nation becomes all the more possible.

I am very much a Constitutionalist. I believe in that document. I believe in what it stands for. And I don't dislike Nancy Pelosi because she's a Democrat, but rather because she seems to have forgotten how important the Constitution is.

UPDATE: Thomas Sowell says exactly what I'm saying...only better.

UPDATE II: Jay Bullock has pointed out in the comments incidents where Republicans have done the same thing Pelosi is doing now. So, I will rescind my precedent comment, but I won't deny that what Pelosi is doing is wrong. It was wrong when Gingrich did it, wrong when Hastert did it and is just as wrong now. Hopefully Jay, being a teacher and dealing with kids all the time, knows that two (or three) wrongs don't make a right. ;)

(Yeah...I did a winky face. So sue me.)

RIP Robert Clark

Robert Clark, director of A Christmas Story, and his son were killed when a drunk driver, driving on the wrong side of the road, collided head-on with his car.

Clark, 67, was driving south on Pacific Coast Highway near Bay Club Drive
in Pacific Palisades when his 1997 Infiniti sedan was hit by a swerving 2007 GMC
Yukon with Hector Velazquez-Nava, 24, behind the wheel, authorities said.

Velazquez-Nava was driving without a license northbound in the
southbound lanes while under the influence of alcohol, said Los Angeles police
Lt. Paul Vernon.

Clark and his 22-year-old son, Ariel Hanrath-Clark of Santa Monica,
were pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Los Angeles Police
Department.

Nava and his passenger, Lydia Mora, 29, suffered minor injuries and
were treated at a local hospital. Nava, who remains hospitalized, was arrested
on suspicion of gross vehicular manslaughter and driving under the influence of
alcohol.

Right away something went through my head, but I'm not going to say it. You can go here if you want to know what it is, and here if you want to know why it's somewhat justified.

Bloggers in Public

I ran into Elliot of From Where I Sit over lunch today.

It's good to see that he doesn't let his wheelchair hold him back, but I gotta say that it's kind of annoying the way he slams it into anyone who gets in his way. That little old lady was pissed.

Love to Hate

I wonder if this is Eugene Kane's approach to his column?

Hi Kids!

I was just told by a friend who's a high school teacher that he has his students reading Ask Me Later.

Now, while he may be pulling my leg, I do have to say that if this isn't a sign of the sorry state of education in Milwaukee, I don't know what is!

To The 6th District...

Congratulations!

You have successfully shown the rest of the Milwaukee that you won't be pushed around. Who you have represent you in city-level politics is your decision, and you made it. The "Forces of Darkness" did not prevail and you have stood up for what you believe. This is a glorious day in the history of Milwaukee politics.

But executing your democratic rights does come with consequences you should be aware of. Having told the rest of the city you chose to continue to be represented by a racist, homophobic, perjuring adulterer whose own self-interests will always and forever supersede those of his constituents, you have essentially said that you do not wish to play an important role in how this city is managed. You have shown your support for a man who has consistently advocated for law-breakers and has popularized a campaign where citizens should not cooperate with police, even though his district, your district, demonstrates some of the highest rates of violent crime in the city. You have allowed the control of your district to remain in the hands of a man who impregnated a woman who was not his wife and later went on to threaten to kill her in a court of law. You have told the city of Milwaukee, quite bluntly, that you just don't give a flying fuck.

So please forgive the rest of us as we begin to sing the same tune. Forgive us for not caring ab0ut what happens in your neighborhood. Forgive us for making every effort possible to not allow the apathy you seem to have accepted to bleed into our neighborhoods. Forgive us for turning our backs on our own neighbors.

But don't blame us, for you turned your backs on yourselves long ago.

And to those of you in the district who didn't vote for Michael McGee, Jr., move. Your neighbors have quite obviously chosen a path that does not serve your interests, and you can only go on so long trying to solve the problem before you're forced to the conclusion that the problem simply doesn't want to be solved.

Beefcake!

Awesome meat "font," for those who don't get enough beef in their diets before 8am.

Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman is a fantasy/sci-fi writer of numerous novels, comic books and films (among other things too numerous to name) who just happens to live in Wisconsin. I was first introduced to his work with the book Good Omens, a satirical take on the Apocalypse co-authored with a now favorite author of mine, Terry Pratchett (who at one time held the distinction of having the best-selling book series in England before Harry Potter came along). Gaiman is arguably best known for his series of Sandman graphic novels, which I've yet to crack, and Stardust, a movie based on one of his books starring Robert DeNiro, Claire Danes and Sienna Miller will be out this August.

Since Gaiman has a journal/weblog, and calls Wisconsin home, I thought I'd add him to the blogroll. It's nice to have something to read from time to time that isn't all about hard-hitting news. And, as a note to the organizers of the upcoming Blog Summit, not all blogging is about politics. Just a thought.

Blogworthy Conversation

A co-worker and I were getting coffee this morning when she commented on the number of worms on the sidewalk.

Me: Do you know why worms come out when it rains?

BJ: No. Why?

Me: Because otherwise they'd drown.

BJ: Really?

Me: Yeah. Pretty simple when you think about it, but that never dawns on anyone.

BJ: What did they do before sidewalks?

An Unpleasant Bleg

While some people are out there trying to get votes today, The Unpleasantness is looking for your cooperation in getting birdies.

Now's your chance to finally hang with the cool kids. Or me. Kind of a horse a piece. That is if you're a little slow and frequently compare horses to yogurt.

So stop here and find out how you can do your part.

Oh...and don't forget to vote.

Why I hate people in animal costumes

Over at Pundit Nation they're taking a tongue-in-cheek approach to an Easter Egg hunt held this past weekend at Washington Park. While the event may have gone off with nary a crime worth mentioning (other than, I'm sure, some bigger kids roughing up smaller kids for their eggs), I believe the Mathiases are being a tad too aloof about the entire incident, particularly considering this beast made an appearance.

Just look at that thing! If that isn't pure evil, I don't know what is! Personally, I think this was just a plan by the godless infidels and liberals to scare small children away from the holy holiday of Easter, when Christ rose from the dead and hid eggs all about Jerusalem for the apostles to find and share with his followers.

And if that isn't in the Bible, well, it should be.

Kane Watch: Mean Mugging

Eugene Kane is trying to pass off what's come to be known as "mean mugging," defined by the Urban Dictionary as "[t]o glare at another person with a scowl, or other antagonistic facial expression, with malicious intent, hoping to provoke a response from the intended receipient," as a cultural phenomenon among young black males. In yesterday's column, Kane goes so far as to compare those who feel intimidated by such behavior to someone who sent him a vile, racist-rant-filled journal. To his credit, Kane does acknowledge that there may just be something to how these people feel, but...

...unless some new laws have been passed recently, freaking out mall shoppers
with your hip-hop appearance isn't yet considered a crime.

In a follow-up blog post, Kane responds to much of the criticism he received for his column:

I've always thought the problem in Milwaukee is many people see a group of young
black males talking loudly in a group and they have no cultural perspective
to decide if the kids are joking around with each other or about to start a
fight.

Ahhh...so it's an issue of "cultural perspective" then, is it? Isn't that an easy cop-out? Once again, it has little to do with the behavior of these kids who feel it appropriate to behave in such a manner that makes them appear to be taking every step that normally preceeds a crime or some act of violence, but rather with those people who wish to take a proactive stance in protecting themselves. Kane is classically using the tactic of victimization, where an individual's behavior means nothing compared to society's reaction. Act like a thug? No worries...it's a cultural thing. Be treated like one? That's racism.

Kane's attitude towards such behavior is growing more and more ludicrous with each passing day. When he's ready to approach this more as a member of society and less as a extremely special interest, the Kane Watch may be less apt to question his legitimacy.

Even if he has a newspaper column.

Great Product Placement

I was at Walgreen's this past weekend when I saw these two items stocked on the shelf right next to one another.

The best part is that they were right next to the cash register...where most "impulse" items are placed. Usually, I may be coaxed into buying a candy bar, but whatever floats your boat!

(Which reminds me: It's not the size of the boat that matters, but how easily it glides through the water)