Ike - get a new bus driver

Above is one of Ike's TV campaign ads from the 1952 Presidential election. If Ike thought that Adlai Stevenson and the Democrats of the day were out of control bus drivers, I wonder what he would say about Obumbler, Reid, Pelosi and company?

Found via Open Culture, which has a couple more of Ike's ads.
   

Obama's inspiration

The saga of the popped balloon

Image courtesy of Shakey Illustraions

When considering Wisconsin politics one must never conclude that they've hit the bottom of the stupid barrel. Just when you think it can't get sillier, they demonstrate that they have a boundless capacity for the bizarre and ridiculous.  

During the summer protestors would gather in the rotunda in Madison and to protest songs, chant "who's house - our house", indulge in paranoid theorizing about the Koch brothers and eventually release red, heart-shaped helium balloons to drift up into the dome.

The balloons began to grate on the nerves of the Capital staff. They were very difficult to get down, and there were fears they would damage the paintings on the dome. Finally one day late in July Ron Blair, the state Department of Administration's assistant facilities director, snapped. 

Well, actually he snapped at least once earlier, Meade over at Althouse's had previously posted a video  him acting like an typically belligerent rent-a-cop who acted like a putz throughout their encounter and even pushed Meade at one point.   

But I digress, back to July 25th, 2011, a protestor named Leslie Peterson was standing in the rotunda, attending the sing-along and holding a red, heart-shaped balloon when Ron rushed at her from behind with a utility knife, popped her balloon, some how cut himself in the process, until finally the two ended up crashing through the door of a restroom in the ensuing fracas. The Blue Cheddar blog posted an eye witness's account:

Jenna says that she was standing with Leslie when Ron approached “out of nowhere”. Leslie was holding a heart-shaped balloon that according to a @joevittie tweet, she had brought to give to a legislator. Jenna says Ron rushed at the balloon and popped it and then darted down a back stairway. In the course of the action Jenna says he did not say anything she could clearly hear, though he may have been mumbling.

Jenna says they were on the 2nd floor of the Capitol and he ran down to the 1st floor. She and Leslie followed close behind yelling at him and asking him why he popped the balloon. Jenna said he stopped at the 1st floor and turned. At this point they were very close, only “a couple of feet away” from Ron. Jenna says Ron lunged at Leslie grabbing her wrists and throwing her into a bathroom door. The force of the lunge was enough to push Leslie into the bathroom and he also came in the room with her. Jenna says that at this point Leslie started to scream and call “Help!”.

Police found Ron Blair at a clinic where he was getting his hand stitched up. He was placed on administrative leave pending and investigation and, as the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported, he was charged with misdemeanor charges of disorderly conduct with a dangerous weapon for using the knife and slamming her against the door. He faces up to 9 months in jail and a $1,000 fine.

Yesterday, in the article Protester sues Capitol worker who popped her balloon, the Journal Sentinel reports that -- what else -- she's filing a law suit. Claiming "he violated her constitutional rights by popping her balloon" and the Journal Sentinel states her "lawsuit filed last week alleges Blair violated Peterson's free speech and due process rights and subjected her to unreasonable search and seizure."

Yes, yes, he's a lout, should get fired from his job and get slapped with probation and a fine, but a civil suit? Civil rights violations? 1st Amendment issues? Seems like she's buttering the bread a little thick with that list of claims.

Also, aside from a popped balloon what sort of damages is she asking for? Bear in mind, after he popped her balloon she chased after him, so its not like she was in mortal terror for her life or anything. Ah well, a Madison jury is sure to give her oodles of money to stick it to the man.  

At any rate, the comment thread of that last linked article is a hoot. It has devolved into the usual internet food fight all of their political threads arrive at sooner or later.

Eat your peas (gourmet pea recipe included in post)

Obama's press conference was about what was expected. The only real mystery going in was would we get the Obama the Dick, or Obama the Great Conciliator. He tried the conciliator route. He also made a risible attempt to portray himself as Washington's greatest budget deficit hawk. Alas, if only those nefarious Republicans -- who are under the thumb of the corporate jet-setter crowd -- would only agree to his compromise of raising taxes and promising spending cuts somewhere down the road then all would be well.  

"So we might as well do it now. Pull off the band-aid. Eat our peas. Now is the time to do it. If not now, when?" 

That was my favorite line, and likely the line he'll be saddled with from the speech while the rest of the malarkey he spouted is quickly forgotten. It is a marvelous example of his unfailing ability to be tone deaf. It infantilizes the American public, we become children who need to be told to suck it up and rip that bandage off and to quit winning and eat our veggies. I'm surprised he didn't end that we should be sure to clean our plate because there's starving children in China, or don't parents use that expression any more?

Even more ridiculous, the sentence minimizes the problems we face. Does he really think the sting of a band-aid being torn off, or a spoonful of peas, really captures the cost Americans are going to have to pay for this crisis?  Again, Obama and his indifference. There are people suffering now, and most Americans understand that there is not a Scrooge McDuck sitting on a pile of gold that can solve our deficit problem, rather there will be a serious pain to citizens in digging out of this problem no matter which way we turn. 

Well, since we've got to eat them according to our Great Father Who Lives in Washington I thought I would dig up a tasty pea recipe. That led me to Yes Peas!, a website dedicated to the little green globes. Once there I found the recipe for Pea And Cream Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms (reproduced below). You can find more recipes at the site and you can even get yourself a free pea recipe book (Obama would approve of that, although he would probably prefer it had a selling price so's he could slap a sales tax on it). I also found the above pea song at the site.


Pea And Cream Cheese Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients

8 large flat mushrooms
2 tbsp butter
1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped
350g frozen peas
350g garlic and herb cream cheese
1 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
100g pine nuts
2 tbsp breadcrumbs
Rapeseed oil, to drizzle
Sea salt and black pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas 5.

Wipe the mushrooms with a damp clean cloth, remove the mushroom stalks and roughly chop them. Place the mushrooms on a baking tray, season with sea salt and black pepper and drizzle with oil, place in the oven and bake for 10 minutes, then remove from the oven.

Meanwhile, in a large frying pan, melt the butter and fry the onion and mushroom stalks for 5 minutes, to soften, but not browned. Then add the peas with 1 tablespoon of cold water, cook for a further minute. Transfer the mixture to a bowl; mix with 225g of garlic and herb cream cheese, basil and the pine nuts and season with sea salt and black pepper.

Spoon the mixture into the mushroom caps and sprinkle over the breadcrumbs. Spread the remaining garlic and herb cream cheese on top of the mushrooms, drizzle with a little oil and bake in the oven for 10 minutes.

Serves 4.

Wisconsin - the gift that keeps giving

I'm learning to never under estimate the absurdity of Wisconsin politics. One problem that I've mentioned the unions faced is that they really didn't have enough people to sustain the protests on their own. Richard Trumka, the head of the AFL-CIO, addressed that problem by inviting in Progressives of every stripe to join the protests to swell their ranks.

The danger of this, from the union perspective, is that these other groups begin to hijack the union message and replace it with their own foolishness (I've talked about that earlier here, here and here).

The above video shows another example of that. As the Isthmus Daily reported in Walker opponents take to Wisconsin's waters with protest flotillas protestors discovered that Tonette Walker, the Wisconsin First Lady, was hosting a garden party at Governor's mansion. They responded by organizing the Wiflotilla, a group of a few canoes, kayaks and small power boats that parked off-shore from the mansion where they hooted, chanted and honked on their horns. 

Naturally the protestors plan on making this an on-going protest, and they are even talking about spreading it to lakes and water ways all over Wisconsin. Can banging drums and megaphone assisted chants of "this is what Democracy looks like" be far behind?

Aside from the stupidity of consciously coupling themselves with the provocateurs of the Gaza flotilla (is that really an association that resonates positively with the citizens of Wisconsin?), have they considered how crass, rude and over-the-top this looks to a lot of people? Have they considered how fisherman or vacationing families out for a weekend of recreation on a lake are going to react to a pack of nitwits chanting protest slogans at them while they try to relax?

My guess, this will lead to another round of "will you guys please shut up" from the public like the zombie protest evoked, and then some frantic back peddling. "It was all in fun, and besides it's OUR democracy, OUR mansion, OUR lake and blah, blah, blah, Koch Brothers, blah, blah, blah... "

The Unions can barely hold their ground when they frame it as noble teachers being picked on. They won't hold it at all when it is one group of clueless louts after another making nuisances out of themselves.

(HT: Anne Althouse)

On Wisconsin

I was on vacation and I missed the opportunity to comment in a timely manner about the rumored brawl between Wisconsin Supreme Court Justices David Prosser and Ann Walsh Bradley. As you may recall one of the following happened:

1. The liberal Walsh charged the conservative Prosser with upraised fists.
2. The conservative Prosser tried to strangle the liberal Walsh
3. Both A & B of the above
4. None of the above

After following current Wisconsin politics I pick C, but who knows the correct answer. Meanwhile, as the circumstances of the judicial brawl get sorted out, Wisconsin is moving on to the next phase of its political insanity -- the recall elections.  

William A. Jacobson at Legal Insurrection is introduces the recall elections in his post Wisconsin isn’t over. In it he discusses the state of fund-raising for the recalls, and the post also has the schedule for the recall elections:

July 12 Democratic primaries
• Dist. 8 (incumbent Sen. Alberta Darling): Gladys Huber vs. Sandra Pasch
• Dist. 10 (incumbent Sen. Sheila Harsdorf): Shelly Moore vs. Isaac Weix
• Dist. 14 (incumbent Sen. Luther Olsen): Rol Church vs. Fred Clark
• Dist. 18 (incumbent Sen. Randy Hopper): Jessica King vs. John Buckstaff
• Dist. 32 (incumbent Sen. Dan Kapanke): James Smith vs. Jennifer Shilling
Winners will face incumbent Republicans on Aug. 9

July 19 Republican primaries
• Dist. 12 (incumbent Sen. Jim Holperin): Robert Lussow vs. Kim Simac
• Dist. 22 (incumbent Sen. Robert Wirch): Fred Ekornaas vs. Jonathan Steitz
Winners will face incumbent Democrats on Aug. 16

It is rather baffling why they don't have the elections for both the Democrats and the Republicans on the same days, but then one remembers this is Wisconsin we're talking about. Of course, scheduling them on separate days -- aside from probably costing more money -- means that they can receive dodgy and inconsistent local media coverage and the unionistas will be able to concentrate their forces more efficiently. What could go wrong?

At any rate, as I said in a comment over there, "I fear the sort of Democratic frenzy we’re seeing in Wisconsin may go national. They don’t know how to be the minority party. Hopefully that lack of grace will keep them in the minority for some time. It is not a pleasant sight."
 

Oh no! I've been hacked too!

 

Antohny Weiner isn't the only one having dirty tricks played on him. I just discovered that I too have been hacked. Some scoundrel,  no doubt to besmirch my reputation and/or create a distraction, has been mailing the above postcards -- purported to be from me -- to various 18 year old coeds in my address book. 

I vehemently deny they were sent by me.

By the way, I can neither confirm nor deny that the hand writing on the cards matches mine, nor do I think, to the best of my recollection, that I ever drew the stick figure. Also, whether I reported this mail fraud to the FBI or not is none of your damn business!