Cupcakes Versus Vegetables

Cupcake meida rides again:

A decade later, the memory of her remains, but how much else has changed. After the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997, Princes William and Harry (then aged 15 and 12, respectively) marched through central London, their little heads bowed, toward their mother's funeral.

While the substanative aniversary gos almost unnoticed:

The (Gdansk) strike marked the beginning of the end of communist rule in Eastern Europe. Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher are, rightly, given the greatest share of credit for winning the Cold War. But Lech Walesa and John Paul II played indispensable roles.

In the 70s many experts believed that continuing the Cold War was pointless-- the Communists weren't so bad, not every society valued Western style freedom, cowed populations accepted what they could not change. Solidarity and the Poles put the lie to such talk. In the long twilight struggle against Stalinism, the workers of Poland were the first light of sunrise.

Tell Me Again Why This is My Problem?

You're checking out at the grocery store. The cashier tells you your total is $20.00 and $4.00. You pause for a second and ask why your total isn't $24. She says that the price scanner has trouble reading the UPC bar code on the hot dogs you want so she has to ring them as a separate transaction. You are being asked to pay twice in one visit; two checks, or two debit card swipes, or two currency hand-offs. This is something the store needs to solve, and not a problem that needs to be laid a the feet of the customer.

Earlier this summer, I sent in the renewal for our motorcycle insurance. I mailed a check to the PO box on California, and the USPS got it there about 10-12 days before it was due. About a month after the expiration/renewal date show on the insurance ID cards we carry when we ride, I received a notice that the policies had been cancelled for non-payment. I eventually discovered that the insurance company uses some sort of electronic funds transfer banking trick and there's some route coding anomaly with the check I sent that made it get spit out of their process. The check they recieved was/is legal and valid, issued by US Bank. There's plenty of money in the account and this was/is not an NSF issue. My plumber takes the checks for house calls, my veterinarian takes the checks for doggy check-ups and the Minnesota Wild takes the checks for season tickets. This insurance company took the checks for four years.

Now, for a reason I have no obligation to care about, the insurance company's transactional sleight-of-hand won't process it. Do they walk it over to bank that would gladly accept it for deposit? Nope. Do the call me to tell me what's going on? Nope. Instead, they never notified me of this matter until we'd been riding with cancelled insurance for almost five weeks. Thanks, shitheads; you're fired. Hello, Progessive.

As consumers we get kicked around at every turn. I think we've been numbed to how low our expectations really are. How else can you explain how refreshing this is:

Here's how Capt. Denny Flanagan does it:

He mingles with passengers in the gate area. He makes gate announcements himself, updating passengers about weather conditions and sets realistic expectations for delays. He uses his cellphone to call United operations to ask about connections for passengers. He passes out information cards to passengers with fun facts about the plane; he signs two of them, whose owners will win a bottle of wine. He snaps pictures of animals in the cargo hold to show owners their pets are safely on board. He writes notes to first-class passengers and elite frequent fliers on the back of his business cards, addressing them by name and thanking them for their business. He personally calls parents of unaccompanied children to give them updates. He instructs flight attendants to pass out napkins asking passengers to write notes about experiences on United, good or bad. He orders 200 McDonald's hamburgers for passengers if his flight is delayed or diverted.

Doing the Right Thing

This item is going to put Paul Mirengoff's world quite askew:

It was an emotional night at Anfield, with the Reds paying their own tribute to murdered 11-year-old Everton fan Rhys Jones before kick-off. The Toffees' theme of Z-Cars was played and the crowd applauded as Rhys's parents stood on the touchline in their Everton shirts.

I wonder what circumstances would have "You'll Never Walk Alone" played for people in red kits at Goodison Park.

Background on the Rhys Jones murder here.

Just Your Garden-Variety Backyard Tesla Fun

via Dark Roasted Blend

Try the Chocolate; Burn Old Glory

Juat another beautiful day in the heart of the EU:

Brussels Mayor Freddy Thielemans, who toasted the death of Pope John Paul II with the call, “Champagne for everyone!” has banned the Stop the Islamicisation of Europe (SIOE) demonstration, planned for September 11, but authorized the anti-American United for Truth (UFT) rally for September 9.

Mayor Thielemans, biggest appeaser since Neville Chamberlain, is worried that the SIOE demonstration will upset the large immigrant population of Brussels. More than half of the inhabitants of the Brussels region are of foreign origin, many of them from Morocco. According to the mayor, there is a real danger of violence between demonstrators and Muslims living in the neighbourhood.

As some would put it, the Muslims might not tolerate native Europeans protesting against their continent becoming "Eurabia”.

Read it all, if you can stomach it.

Showbiz is Rough

From Timothy McSweeny's Lists:

Ways I've Let DownPopular Musicians.

- Permitted sun to go down on Elton John, thus failing him.

- Failed to heed warning to stop in the name of love, broke Diana Ross's heart.

- Was cruel to a heart that was true, much to the chagrin of Elvis Presley.

- Monkees left at the station with only their worries after I missed the last train to Clarksville.

- Went changing to try to please Billy Joel. Total fiasco.

Which Sort of Opression is OK?

Look - I'm just a regular guy, who expects 2 and 2 to add up to 4, so I'm having a hard time squaring this:

(American pop singer Gwen) Stefani had promised before the concert to dress modestly after the 10,000-member National Union of Malaysian Muslim Students protested against the concert, claiming her fashion sense and cheeky performances clash with Islamic values. The opposition Pan-Malaysian Islamic Party also accused Stefani of promoting promiscuity and corrupting the country's youth.

So, make accommodations to Muslim culture because, you know, it's so inclusive and worthy of placating:

“Women are simply not accepted by the Muslim community,” says Mohammed. “So women had also better not do this work.” Mohammed is my colleague social worker (integration civil servant) in Antwerp’s immigrant quarters. He looks at me gravely. “That is just the way it is, and that is why I prefer not to work with a woman, that simply doesn’t work.” He is complaining about another colleague, a Flemish woman who is his superior.

Mohammed does not think that this mentality about women and work is wrong. In fact, whoever questions this attitude is wrong because it is his culture and belief, which is why he accepts it, he “understands” it and we, Flemings, do not. Consequently we must accept it, until we “understand” as well.

Sure that Stefani would scoff at a Christian group that suggests she dress less provocatively (whatever that entails), I really wonder if the reason so many accommodations made to militant Islam that are, very simply, that non-Muslims do not shoot at or blow up the things in this world that do not please them.

Do I detect a theme?

Does anyone remember the reaction to proposals for public funding of secular studies in sectarian schools? All the promises to maintain a separation between church and state were dismissed as disingenuous or ineffectual. Yet now “Arab” culture and language, which is defined by the Muslim faith, is unquestioningly welcomed as “public” and non-sectarian.

And whatever happened to the notion that public schools are supposed to teach students traditional American values and certainly English as their primary language? This is doubtless how the Muslim hijacking of the British and French educational systems started. We can’t say we weren’t forewarned.

So a public school is adopting all the tenants of a specific - and where is the ACLU? Oh yea, they're badgering pharmacists into doing things their way.

Everyone Gets to Go Home

Thirteen:

Divers at the Interstate 35W bridge collapse site found the body of Greg Jolstad Monday evening. He was the last remaining missing victim from the collapse.

Greg Jolstad, 45, was on the construction crew resurfacing the bridge when it fell.

Lisa Jolstad said she's trying to keep occupied by getting the farmhouse ready for winter."I sit home every night and I just can't believe he's not coming home," she said. "I look out the back door window and it's weird not to see his truck out there. I look out the bathroom window at the sky and know he's up there, and I say, you know, why did you have to leave, Greg?"

Clown Time

"My actions will not be halted by thought

or reason, for I am a puppy.

Now - what else can I put in my mouth?"

Sunday Special

Twas a rainy day in Our Fair city, so we sucked it up and saw some indoor baseball. Besides the Twins, I've probably seen the Texas Rangers (by pure chance) more that any other team and they happened to be on the docket yesterday. But so was Johan Santana who pitched a gem. Every Rangers batter struck out at least once:

Brad Wilkerson - 1st inning, 3-2 count, six pitches, swinging
Michael Young - 1st inning, 1-2 count, five pitches, swinging
Sammy Sosa - 2nd inning, 3-2 count, six pitches, looking
Marlon Byrd - 2nd inning, 0-2 count, three pitches, swinging
Gerald Laird - 2nd inning, 0-2 count, five pitches, swinging
Jarrod Saltalamacchia - 3rd inning, 2-2 count, six pitches, swinging
Ramon Vazquez - 3rd inning, 2-2 count, seven pitches, looking
Ian Kinsler - 4th inning, 0-2 count, three pitches, swinging
Michael Young - 4th inning, 0-2 count, three pitches, swinging
Marlon Byrd - 5th inning, 0-2 count, four pitches, swinging
Gerald Laird - 5th inning, 2-2 count, five pitches, swinging
Brad Wilkerson - 7th inning, 3-2 count, eight pitches, swinging
Michael Young - 7th inning, 0-2 count, three pitches, swinging
Marlon Byrd - 7th inning, 1-2 count, five pitches, swinging
Gerald Laird - 8th inning, 2-2 count, six pitches, swinging
Nelson Cruz - 8th inning, 1-2 count, four pitches, swinging
Jarrod Saltalamacchia - 8th inning, 1-2 count, four pitches, swinging

Mr. Bike Shorts Has His Knuckles Rapped

The Wall Street Journal had the time and resources to write what I had in my head for the last 2 weeks:

As it happens, (Rep. James Oberstar and Senator Don Young) are the same men who played the lead role in the $286 billion 2005 federal highway bill. That's the bill that diverted billions of dollars of gas tax money away from urgent road and bridge projects toward Member earmarks for bike paths, nature trails and inefficient urban transit systems.

Minnesota's transportation auditors warned as long ago as 1990 that there was a "backlog of bridges that are classified as having structural deficiencies." In 1999 engineers declared that cracks found in the bridge that collapsed were "a major concern." Bike paths were deemed a higher priority by Congress, however, including its powerful Minnesota Representatives. As recently as July 25, Mr. Oberstar sent out a press release boasting that he had "secured more than $12 million in funding" for his state in a recent federal transportation and housing bill. But $10 million of that was dedicated to a commuter rail line, $250,000 for the "Isanti Bike/Walk Trail," $200,000 to bus services in Duluth, and $150,000 for the Mesabi Academy of Kidspeace in Buhl (What the hell is that?) None of it went for bridge repair.

Minnesota spends $1.6 billion a year on transportation--enough to build a new bridge over the Mississippi River every four months. But nearly $1 billion of that has been diverted from road and bridge repair to the state's light rail network that has a negligible impact on traffic congestion. Last year part of a sales tax revenue stream that is supposed to be dedicated for road and bridge construction was re-routed to mass transit. The Minnesota Department of Economic Development reports that only 2.8% of the state's commuters ride buses or rail to get to work, but these projects get up to 25% of the funding.

This is the most thorough fisking I've seen on the sanctimonious Oberstar yet and you really should read it all, while keeping your wallet close by.

Wild Blue Yonder

Sherm Booen wasn't there to report on it but I had a very fun ride in a taildragger last Tuesday.

Took off from Lake Elmo about 5:20 in a Bellanca Citabria 150. Like me, it's about 40 but it'll cruise happily around 120 mph. At that speed, we had no trouble sitting down for dinner in Cumberland by 6.

Pilot Al gave me the stick for a spell, which I did not squander, and he was happy to explain everything from preformance factors (+5/-2 G) to piloting smarts (100LL in a bit cheaper in New Richmond) and how to create a posh hanger (red carpet).

If the price of admission wasn't out of reach, I'd be shopping. What a hoot; I'd go again in a heartbeat.

Forget About Health and Common Sense

It's time to take up smoking cigarettes. We gotta pay for that SCHIP crap somehow:

There are some differences in detail between the Senate and House bills authorizing massive expansion of the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), yet the competing plans have this much in common: Some states will be winners, others will be losers, but they’re all going to have to recruit millions of new smokers. This is because both plans depend on an increase in the federal tax on cigarettes, with the House version upping the levy 45 cents and the Senate 61 cents.

Add a higher federal tax . . . and it is impossible to envision sufficient revenues to finance SCHIP as Congress intends. So Congress will need millions of new tobacco customers to replace those who quit, die or reduce consumption. At least 9 million new smokers will be needed during the next five years to ensure sufficient revenues to pay for the expanded SCHIP program. And that illustrates yet another law of economic reality — government actions almost always have unintended consequences, and they are usually bad.

Hey, smoking stinks and it's bad for you; tax the crap out of it. Just don't you, as a congressional fraud, pretend that you have a lick of sense by tyring to pay for every pie-in-the-sky feel-good program by having the cost onto an indefensible subclass of Americans.

Start smoking today; it's for the children.

Legacy Media Rides Again

The New York Times is more and more adopting a mullet-like appearance: Misleading up front, informationally valid in the back.

In paragraph 4, we're told that the jurors, leaving the courthouse, would not speak to the press, but one woman, contacted by phone, said -- in the words of the NYT -- "that she had all but made up her mind before deliberations began." The readers' suspicions of injustice are stoked. Yet really, the juror has admitted nothing wrong here. Why the paraphrase? What did she say?

Do people even click to see what's on page 2?

American History Scutteld by Big Labor

Historical and culturally significant or not - if it ain't controlled by union thugs, it's days are numbered:

Because of those protective measures, and the fact that (the Delta Queen) is never more than a mile from shore, Congress has always granted her a waiver from the all-steel construction requirement. The exemption renewal again passed through the House this past year, but died in the Senate.

And so a piece of history, the last riverboat recognizable to Mark Twain, a ship listed on the National Register of Historic Places, a vessel safe enough that the Secret Service permitted Jimmy Carter, when he was a sitting President, to board her, will cease operation because a powerful Senator is beholden to a union.

Is it just me, or is it pretty ironic that someone who witnessed the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941 would now torpedo an American maritime icon? Just more diseased action (inaction?) from the freaks that get elected in this once-great nation.

And . . . They're Off!

Week one of the English Premier League; Steven Gerrard saves Jamie Carragher's cheese at 87'

Aston Villa 1-2 Liverpool.

Nitety Four

Hot day on the tundra. How are we coping? Tequila Sunrise and a dip in the dog pool.

Failure to Focus

Craig Westover:

Simply raising the gas tax and generating more money for roads and bridges won't change the values and processes that brought about neglect of the infrastructure. Following form, after a special session the Legislature will declare "mission accomplished" with the passage of a gas tax, delegate the "mundane" details of infrastructure maintenance to MnDOT (which legislators will criticize for some future failure) and then move on to the issues that captivate the collective imagination: (Growth and Justice president Dane) Smith's litany of education, new transit, health care and environmental quality suffices as example.

Seriously setting priorities starts not with a list of issues, but with the way we think about government's role. It requires understanding the processes and values at work in the bureaucracy and how they affect government's capability to address specific problems. Government is very good at some things and very poor at others. Trying harder with more funding won't necessarily make it better at activities in conflict with bureaucracy's fundamental processes and values.

The day we went from funding "need to have" and started funding "nice to have" is the day we set in motiin the events that brought down that rusty bridge.

And Your Job is Doing What?

Just heard a sound bite on the radio. It was White House spokesman Tony Snow. He must have been asked by one of those oh-so-sharp White House correspondent if President Bush saw Barry Bonds* hit number 756 last night.

Snow (basically) said "The president was in bed when Mr. Bonds hit his home run, and Mr. Bonds was in bed this morning when the president went to work."

Touché.

Bridge to Somewhere

Like a banana republic-grade fever, the fingerprinting and unhinged raving about why the bridge fell down is spreading fast, hot and unchecked.

Fortunately, there's some signs of sound treatment for this ugly ailment:

Had we given the Twins Nick Coleman’s middle finger, the bridge would have still collapsed and the schools would still be bailing water. The bleeding-heart segment of the DFL has abdicated on public works, period. That there are jobs for their constituents, economic development for their communities, and intangible benefits all around is seemingly irrelevant. Or as Hennepin Commissioner Mike Opat described the mentality earlier this year, “That’s not going to solve poverty, therefore we shouldn’t do it.”

The problem here is the right’s unwillingness to tax and spend period, not to tax and spend for things that aren’t sexy. The problem here is the left’s relentless focus on inequity to the detriment of everything else. The problem here is an electorate easily lured by “taxes and government are bad” reasoning.

Among the saddest components of the bridge collapse blow back is the volume used by so many who don't know a thing about the (often dysfunctional and ineffective) way governments work. For so many, the amount they really know about civics is inversely proportional to how right ow right they think they are.