The Exaggerator

Incidental #1,244: Reflections on another year's vacation in Wisconsin Dells

Thu, 16 Jul 2009 00:45:00 GMT

LAST EVENING, YOUR CORRESPONDENT RETURNED FROM YET ANOTHER OF HIS ANNUAL POST-4TH OF JULY VACATIONS in none other than the Waterpark Capital of the World--as in Wisconsin Dells (where else?).

As for how it came to be that he chose the post-4th period for the Dells vacation, it dated back to when the Steamboat Days summer celebration Winona hath was held over the July 4th holiday long weekend. Even when the aforementioned Steamboat Days moved over to the Father's Day weekend a few years back, I kept the annual tradition.

This year, yours truly decided to try a new motel as his bivouac of sorts therefor: It's the 4 Seasons Motel on "the Strip" (a/k/a Wisconsin Dells Parkway), chosen to not so much be closer to especially the water parks like Noah's Ark, but also because they happen to have a decent weekly rate: Stay six nights, get the seventh free--what value for money in case you're looking for a more affordable side of Wisconsin Dells than the waterpark resorts offer.

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AND SPEAKING OF THE 4 SEASONS MOTEL, Your Correspondent made an amazing(?!) discovery of sorts vis-a-vis their hydrotherapy spa and indoor swimming pool that could be especially worth noting with all the day spa resorts making the rounds there (howbeit rather pricey for the average Joe heading there):

Such a combi could best be considered as a poor man's Turkish bath for registered guests thereof, as in:

Taking a brief hot shower near the hydro spa before going into same;
Spending about 12-15 minutes tops in said hydrotherapy pool (and with the whirlpool jets turned on, for maximum effect) relaxing the time away (and letting the cares of the time melt, or try to);
Cooling down, as it were, in the cool swimming pool; and
Showering in your room.

The experience thereof should be worth trying among those lucky enough to be guests of the 4 Seasons Motel (which, ironically enough, is open but between May and September, inclusive), which, in common with quite a few other Dells-area motels, is run by Polish families with heavy accents as can take some time getting to understand.

Who, it turns out, acknowledges where she's not exactly getting the sort of business she would like to see (as in a consistent 90% occupancy rate throughout much of the season, not just on the weekends--especially so Saturday nights, which can get to be rather crazy affairs in especially downtown Wisconsin Dells).

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SINCE WALKING AROUND CAN GET TO BE QUITE THE DRAG ON THE BODY, especially among such who, out of conscience, choose not to drive a car to get to, from or around Wisconsin Dells, the taxicab seems to be about the only logical way to get around short of walking to excess.

And with no less than three companies operating there--Dells Cab, Sureway Taxi and Wisconsin Dells Taxi--the competition can get to be rather crazy, or so it would seem. Until you stop and realise where they have a common fare of $2/passenger upon boarding and $2/mile, based on odometer reading (the Dells is probably too small for meters anyway), made even more crazy with a $10 mininum charged by Wisconsin Dells Taxi and a $5 mininum @ Sureway.

What's more, Wisconsin Dells Taxi has a $1 surcharge on all fares between midnight and 4 am.

And don't try calling a cab before @ least 7:30 am with any of the taxi operators in the Waterpark Capital without encountering an ansafone; on the other hand, they would greatly welcome someone willing enough to serve as owl-shift dispatcher, even if all the cab companies relay calls via cell phone to their drivers. Drinking plenty of strong coffee is a must, if but to stay awake.

Enquiries for the position (though I am not officially aware of same being an official opening) should be directed to the companies themselves; just send me an e-mail and I'll advise you where to proceed.

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ONE FOR THE "FAIL/PWN/OWNED" FILE, WISCONSIN DELLS DEPARTMENT: On the rules board for the Slidewinders body slides @ Noah's Ark, one of the rules therefor hath it that riders thereof will please exit the slide "when their tube has come to a complete stop" in the splash pool @ the end.

The erratum thereof was brought to the attention of park management on the Friday of my visit, who have promised to take corrective action.

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"NOW IT CAN BE TOLD" DEPARTMENT: Tom Diehl with the Tommy Bartlett Show hath it that they were able to stay afloat last season in spite of the shock drainage of Lake Delton thanks to a $2 million loan from the Nelson family, as in the Kalahari waterpark resort complex and the Pizza Pub, among other Wisconsin Dells institutions.

The which was used to purchase tickets to "The Show" for distribution to Kalahari Resort guests and for companies throughout Wisconsin and neighbour states to distribute to employees and valued customers in the interest of keeping the name of the Tommy Bartlett Show before the public eye in the face of unexpected circumstances.

This year, it's good to see Lake Delton back on the map ... as well as "The Show" in all its Luscious Waterskiing Glory, enough to have run rings around Cypress Gardens and even surpass the traditional creators of the genre.

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WISCONSIN DELLS SCRAPBOOK: With IHOP having to compete with the likes of Paul Bunyan's and Mr. Pancake for the brekkie trade, it just seems amazing that Paul Bunyan's "all-you-can-eat" Logging Camp Breakfast still attracts its share of loyalists, even if the several dishes making up same get cool within a few minutes of its going to table.... Hottest beverage among the foreign guest workers in the Waterpark Capital @ the Starbucks Coffee location: 250 ml bottles of San Pellegrino mineral water.... Jamaicans, Chinese, Turks and Russians happen to be the most dominant of summer help among the tourist distractions this summer.... Vertical Illusions, that worthwhile alternative to the tackiest of T-shirt shops, now has sunset sea kayak tours of the Upper Dells @ $45/head through the summer. Anybody still remember the sunset boat tours of the Lower Dells with Native American singers? ... Pedro's Mexican Restaurante, which I visited for Saturday and Sunday dinner (and having, respectively, chicken and pork enchiladas), has some rather helpful wait staff offering advice on the ideal sauces and sides for their menu offerings; in my own case, they recommended an adobo sauce for the chicken enchiladas and a verde such for the pork enchiladas.... Moose Jaw Pizza and Brewpub's Saskatchewan Root Beer (brewed on premi, know) has such a spicy and @ once astringent nuance of flavour as makes it definitely worth having; they also produce orange and grape sodas.... Even with all the fudge shops in downtown Wisconsin Dells, there's The Fudgery and Ice Cream @ Tanger Outlets Centre.... Caricaturist Dave Riggs still plies his trade @ The Broadway and Eddy Street, site for free outdoor performances evenings throughout the summer months--and I have one of his caricatures in my flat.... Riverview Park and Waterworld's own mascot: Dunkin Dragon (not to be confused with Dunkin' Donuts), whose appearence schedule ("meet-and-greet" essentially) can vary from day to day; her tastes this year: Pepperoni and sauerkraut pizza @ the aforementioned Moose Jaw (which I happened to have, and what's more, without serious stomach discomfort; Dunkin acknowledges having "weird tastes").... Noah's Ark's "Water Animals" routine is now essentially a "meet-and-greet" after years of being a costumed ur-concert; the hippo wore Slick Gator's "H2O Man" T-shirt for some reason or another--and Noah's could still use people to don the costumes among their employees.... Syno's Cafe @ Tommy Bartlett's Exploratory has added a display of old posters for what was originally called his "Florida Water Ski Show," a couple of ads from the late 1940's for ABC Radio as mentioned Tommy Bartlett's midday show Welcome Travelers out of Chicago, a clipping from the Stars and Stripes covering a 1959 USO appearence of the Tommy Bartlett waterski troupe in South Korea and a billboard for the short-lived Tommy Bartlett Deer Park @ Silver Springs near Ocala, Florida; a poster for a Milwaukee appearence of the "Florida Water Ski Show" urged would-be attendees to "arrive by bus or streetcar [and] avoid parking worries" near Washington Park, in whose lagoon said troupe would perform.... Also @ Syno's: The Chicago city flag displayed proudly on the patio thereof.... Even with Casey Kasem no longer hosting the Top 40 countdown, don't expect "We're Going to the Dells (The Wisconsin Dells)" by The Great Luke Ski to be much of a hit on the radio, let alone on Dr. Demento's show and other bastions of novelty music.... The former German restaurant @ the Bavarian Village is now a Cajun such, A Taste of New Orleans.... Try the multi-grain Belgian waffles @ Mr. Pancake @ least once.... Vertical Illusions' Eaton Dresher kindly recommends the Riverside and Great Northern Railway as a place worth visiting as much as supporting; plenty of Thomas the Tank Engine ephemera to be found, along with a five-mile, 15" gauge steam train experience. Not quite the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway on the south coast of England, but its influence is worth note (you can see a timetable poster for the venerable old line in a museum area of the gift shop, if you look carefully enough).... Monk's Bar downtown (The Original) suggests the Sprecher's Cream Soda as an ideal accompaiment to their burgers for such who can't stand beer.... Michael Jackson ephemera rushed to market in the hours after his shock death recently aside, the hottest T-shirts this summer feature neon messages like "I [Love] This Crazy Town" and plenty of Wisconsin Dells souvenirs with 1960's/early 1970's psychadelica imagery, peace signs in particular.... Wisconsin Dells still hopes to keep its downtown parking meters going for some years to come.... Biggest problem with the revamped Lake Delton: Swimmer's itch; thank G-d for motel swimming pools and waterpark wavepools.... One thing certainly missed in Wisconsin Dells I'd love to see again: Leisurely Sunday brunches of the sort which House of Embers and the Raintree used to offer.... The American Coaster Enthusiasts were in the Waterpark Capital the weekend Your Correspondent was around to ride the likes of the Avalanche @ Timber Falls and, @ Mt. Olympus, their Cyclops, Pegasus and Hades; they also visited Bay Point Park in Green Bay and Little Amerricka outside Madison.... Best relief for sunburn: Walgreen's Aloe Vera Cooling Gel (sky-blue colour, with menthol as active component), 2 6-oz. tubes for $5; pay with a debit card, and (subject to available funds) you can get up to $40 cash back from your chequing account with your Walgreen's purchase.... The Dells' favourite TV newscast: WMTV (channel 15), Madison's NBC affiliate.... Riverview Waterworld prefers playing Mix 106.9 over the tannoy, as does Noah's Ark @ The Wave wavepool; @ Swiss Maid Fudge and Wisconsin Dairyland Fudge, Oldies 94.9 prevails.... Not many know this, but the "Ducks" of World War II/Korean War vintage used on the Original Wisconsin Ducks and Dells Army Ducks tours were originally stateside training units picked up surplus after the war.... Only rain during my vacation was a couple days of pre-dawn thunderstorms, nothing real severe.... With the Federally-mandated surcharge on prepaid phone card calls made from what few public telephones there still are, you'd be better off using said prepaid cards to make calls from your motel room.... Wisconsin Dells Realty's offerings of real estate for sale @ their offices on The Broadway attract their share of the curious....

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IN ANY EVENT, I JUST HAD TO SHARE THESE OBSERVATIONS ABOUT WISCONSIN DELLS FROM MY JUST-CONCLUDED VACATION just to keep the blog going in the midst of my hiatus from more conventional blogging; I should return to such within due course.

Meanwhile, I'd appreciate your observations on these about Wisconsin Dells.

Talk about what's on your mind--or, for that matter, about this item--in The Exaggerator Forums; come join the discussion! And I'd live to see your support for this blog by voting here! (N.B. One vote/day, please.)

Incidental #1,243

Wed, 24 Jun 2009 17:45:00 GMT

WHAT EXACTLY DID SOUTH CAROLINA GOVERNOR MARK SANFORD REALLY HAVE IN MIND in heading down to Argentina while initially claiming he was going to hike the Appalachian Trail--perhaps trying the powder down Bariloche way, what with its being winter (and, hence, ski season) in the Southern Hemisphere?

Tanning himself insane on the sands of Mar del Plata?

Seeking some sort of "safe harbour," post-World War II Nazi leadership stylee, in the boonies of Buenos Aires (especially well away from what the Argentines consider the world's widest street, Avienda de la Reforma), hoping for immunity from prosecution in case he winds up getting impeached or otherwise removed from office due to "mental incapacity or incompetence"?

Looking up what remained of the various shrines and "pilgrimage venues" of the first Juan Peron regime (1946-55), in particular the final resting place of a certain Evita?

In any case, Governor Sanford has a lot of questions to answer the good people of South Carolina, especially so the Secular-Progressive minority afraid and ashamed to make themselves known openly because of The Palmetto State's rather nasty repute against Secular-Progressive thought (as witness where the 1790 version of the state constitution required such seeking seats in the House of Representatives to be white male freeholders having @ least 15 acres of land and ten slaves--twice as much to seek seats in the Senate).

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WOULD-BE PROFESSIONAL ATHLETES IN THE SALAD DAYS OF THE "EVIL EMPIRE" OTHERWISE KNOWN AS THE SOVIET UNION AND ITS WARSAW PACT/COMECON SATELLITES had to undergo not only athletic training and fitness coaching, but also "political instruction" by way of the team Political Officer to ensure ideological correctness and purity.

I mention this because of press reports noting where those six members of the Iranian national soccer team as played in World Cup qualifying matches last week wearing green armbands as a show of solidarity with opposition political supporters challenging the legality of the recent farce officially known as "Presidential elections" have been "retired" (think: dismissed) and their passports and work permits confiscated.

Nonetheless, there are probably certain specimens of conservative Zealotry and True Belief here in our "morally superior" United States who would just love to see (howbeit discreetly) ur-RAHOWA extended from Iraq into Iran, the whole to be done with unwashed hands and the Great Unwashed not expected to know the details "until the proper time comes" (as in "subject to certain astrological sightings," North Korean-stylee).

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AND WITH THE SAUDIS BEING RATHER NOTORIOUS FOR BEING AN INCUBATOR OF RADICAL ISLAMIC RELIGIOPOLITICAL THOUGHT excusing and justifying the old ultraviolence, thanks to the Fundamentalist/Primitive brand of Islam in the Wahhabi stylee being the official doctrine, it will be worth knowing that Amnesty International has issued an International Call to Action targeting the Saudis vis-a-vis five Iraqis of "extreme youth" (13-15 years of age, it turns out) facing sadistic methods of execution (in one case, beheading followed by public crucifixion) for dealing in narcotics in service to radical Islamist movements in Iran.

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MEANWHILE, THE KHURDISTANI SPECIAL AUTONOMOUS REGION OF IRAQ IS OPENING CAMPAIGNING AHEAD OF UPCOMING ELECTIONS on July 25th which could well determine how the oil-rich region of northern Iraq manages to handle its oil wealth; in fact, a newly-launched political party calling itself "Change" advocates a platform of reform and transparency in government dealings and policy.

"Change" hopes to take the two already-dominant Khurdish political parties, the Patriotic Union of Khurdistan (PUK) and the Democratic Party of Khurdistan (PDK), both running on what amounts to a fusionist ticket, to task for autocracy, corruption and mismanagement of oil wealth and state revenues--issues no doubt fuelling plenty of resentment among Khurdistan's 2.5 million or so registered voters, who will be choosing candidates from 24 political parties and groups for seats in the regional assembly.

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BEFORE I GO, I'd like to extend best wishes to those readers of this blog in the Canadian province of Qu�bec, as well as those with ties to Qu�bec, as are observing their F�te Nationale today, commemorating the feast of St. John the Baptist--even considering that, in a week's time from today, La Belle Province joins the rest of Canada in observing the Canada Day holiday.

Just remember the advice of the provincial liquor monopoly, the Soci�t� des alcools de Qu�bec, in enjoying the day: "Moderation is always in good taste."

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IN ANY EVENT, AS OF THIS MOMENT, THE EXAGGERATOR IS NOW IN SUMMER HIATUS, the better so Your Correspondent can recharge himself (largely through the annual Wisconsin Dells trip) and prepare for the aforementioned trip in just under a fortnight's time without unnecessary distractions of attention.

Your Correspondent will continue the EntreCard drops until Friday this week, and would appreciate your continued and continuing dropping thereon in the interim (i.e., until about mid-late July, when I hope to be back to blogging). Likewise with your recommending this blog to your online friends (especially such in the Greater Blogosphere) ... and maybe a serious purchase or two from the online-shopping section (including the e-boutique known as The Exaggerator Collection); I could use the extra income, considering where disability benefits such as I get can only go so far ... said disability precludes my being able to work in the conventional sense of the word ... and it's highly unlikely that I may be coming into serious money within measurable distance.

Until next time, "thank you for your continued and continuing support."

Incidental #1,242

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:15:00 GMT

FOR YEARS, THE PUBLISHERS OF POPULAR MECHANICS MAGAZINE BOASTED THAT SAME was "written so you can understand it."

The same approach which a certain Julius Streicher made infamous with his Nazi-era anti-Semitic tabloid weekly Der Sturmer; the better to whip the Great Unwashed across Nazi Germany into a patriotic frenzy of anti-Semitic hate serving Hitler, Germany and the Aryan Master Race with oversimplified articles laden with anti-Semitic bromides and canards complimented with cartoons reinforcing the same anti-Semitic themes over and over again.

And which seem to remain all the more popular among the Zealots and True Believers in conservative "winning of hearts and minds" propaganda of a crude, pathetic and baseless sort appealing especially to so-called "Real Americans" as are, by and large, vulnerable and socioeconomically-dispossessed--the core audience for bigots, hatemongers, "patriots" and suchlike weird and unwholesome types fond of selling what turns out being a bill of goods packaged as a New Golden Age for America.

Case in point, from the ConWebBlog vis-a-vis the so-called "WorldNetDaily":

Dr. Frank Rosenbloom ("board-certified in internal medicine and practices general internal and hospital medicine in Portland, Ore.") begins his June 19 WorldNetDaily column by stating, "I am awed by the power of words and how, when properly utilized, a minimal number of words can convey great ideas and have lasting effects." He then abuses and debases the power of words through smears and out-of-context quotes.

First, Rosenbloom engages in the WND tradition of likening President Obama to Nazis:

A now well-known political figure ran a campaign promising change. His success was largely due to his skill as an orator, his use of words. He used many words to assuage his detractors, claiming that capitalism and the church were in no danger from him and he was no threat to those who had worked hard and succeeded. He was fortunate to be conducting his campaign during a severe economic downturn. The stock market had fallen, banks had failed, businesses were closing, and unemployment was increasing.
As we know, this politician was elected to the highest office in the land. His programs promoted redistribution of income, government control of large industries, nationalization of trusts and banks, and the suppression of religious conscience. He derided the people he felt were in control of the monetary system and complained that negative elements in society were trying to hold back the progress that he was going to ensure with his new programs. From the beginning he supported abortion and euthanasia � for certain groups of people. This politician's name, of course, was Adolf Hitler.

Rosenbloom then upped the smear ante by likening Hillary Clinton to Chairman Mao:

Consider the quotations below:
"Genuine equality between the sexes can only be realized in the process of the social(ist) transformation of society as a whole."
"Women's empowerment is always, always about more than bettering the lives of individual women. It is part of a movement."
The first is by Chairman Mao, the second is by Hillary Clinton. Yet, they are of similar form and speak from similar ideology.

Finally, Rosenbloom takes Obama out of context to falsely claim that he was bashing Abraham Lincoln:

Barack Obama said: "I cannot swallow whole the view of Lincoln as the Great Emancipator." President Abraham Lincoln wrote the Gettysburg Address to commemorate the dead, to consecrate a cemetery and to inspire our country to continue on in its valiant struggle. A mere 278 beautiful words written on the back of an envelope, it is widely considered the most inspirational speech ever given.

First, Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation and his Gettysburg Address are two separate speeches. Second, when placed in its proper context--a 2005 essay on Lincoln Obama wrote for Time magazine, which does not mention the Gettysburg Address--it's clear that Obama was, in fact, praising Lincoln:

Still, as I look at his picture, it is the man and not the icon that speaks to me. I cannot swallow whole the view of Lincoln as the Great Emancipator. As a law professor and civil rights lawyer and as an African American, I am fully aware of his limited views on race. Anyone who actually reads the Emancipation Proclamation knows it was more a military document than a clarion call for justice. Scholars tell us too that Lincoln wasn't immune from political considerations and that his temperament could be indecisive and morose.
But it is precisely those imperfections--and the painful self-awareness of those failings etched in every crease of his face and reflected in those haunted eyes--that make him so compelling. For when the time came to confront the greatest moral challenge this nation has ever faced, this all too human man did not pass the challenge on to future generations. He neither demonized the fathers and sons who did battle on the other side nor sought to diminish the terrible costs of his war. In the midst of slavery's dark storm and the complexities of governing a house divided, he somehow kept his moral compass pointed firm and true.

Rosenbloom also wrote: "Gifted speakers and writers often use a select few words to maximum effect. As evidenced by the length of this article, I am not one so gifted." Nor, apparently, is he gifted in making a reasoned argument that doesn't devolve into hateful smears and selective quoting.

All in the name of "winning of hearts and minds," as the patsy will likely have it.

But then again, these same specimens of conservative Zealotry and True Belief would just love to deploy Orwellian Newspeak to further the desire of oversimplifying the message by oversimplifying the language down to bare essentials, given the opportunity ... or, even better yet, that indecipherable right-wing tax-protest jargon known as "In-The-Truth", whose adherents consider as being more logical than conventional English brcause "In-The-Truth" is based on the laws of mathematics.

Especially through duckspeak of the most pathetically obnoxious stylee to further dumb down the appeal to the Great Unwashed.

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A KEY ARTICLE OF FAITH WHEN IT COMES TO CONSERVATIVE "WINNING OF HEARTS AND MINDS" PROPAGANDA TARGETING THE MASSES is that which calls for the use of scapegoats to explain (howbeit irrationally, and without credible evidence to support) current problems--"written so you can understand it," remember?

The notion thereof having recently been deflated thus by BuzzFlash (gimme-cap tip to BartCopE! for suggesting this) in deflating conservative propaganda vis-a-vis the near-collapse of capitalism with American characteristics being the byproduct of gays, liberals and National Minorities:

The threat to the white male oligarchy of the nomination of Sonia Sotomayor had gotten so out of hand that if it weren't for the inspiring drama of the Green Revolution, I might have been aphyxiated by now with the hypocrisy of it all.

Here we have the white male Republicans of Wall Street cratering our economy, only to be bailed out by middle and working class taxpayers. The Wall Street river boat gamblers lost their bets and then we gave them hundreds of billions of dollars in welfare.

But to BuzzFlash's knowledge, it wasn't the "threat" of gays, minorities, liberals, and empowered women who committed economic treason; it was due to the reckless and greedy actions of full-fledged members of the white boys club.

Ann Coulter should have directed her book "treason" at the Wall Street white male Republicans, but that wouldn't have sold many books. You got to blame the woes of America on "liberals" and a "secular society" to get those desperately seeking a scapegoat to pony up for pages upon pages of demagoguery without any basis in fact.

And let's not forget our American version of the "Supreme Commander" (the new Shah) in Iran, the self-righteous fundamentalist right. They blame the "destruction" of American society on "promiscuous sex," homosexuality, and liberals. But the last time we checked, it was the God-fearing corporatist side of the GOP that drove the U.S. economy and foreign policy into the ground.

And when you get back to Wall Street, there's nothing to beat the casino playing that left us in ruins, followed by the ultimate government lavish dole, followed by hundreds of millions of dollars in bonuses for failure--or is it economic "treason"?

The "liberal" mores of Hollywood had nothing to do with what went down in the financial markets, but it would make a good movie.

In fact, it has made a good movie.

It was called "Wall Street," and it was filmed in the Reagan era, some 20 years before the blowback of financial treason brought our nation to its knees.

And it was Republican white males--not gays, liberals, or powerful women--who achieved what Osama bin Laden could only dream about: crashing the American economy and weakening our nation to its core.

Come to think of it: What would constitute the Final Perfection of a "Christian" model of free-enterprise With American Characteristics such as conservative propagandists are holding dear as an article of faith (as if implying there was a clear interconnexion between the defence of free enterprise, American sovereignty and sovereign identity "antient and peculiar" and Traditional Morals, Decency and Common Sense)?

Aren't we forgetting that the apartheid regime in South Africa saw free-market capitalism as necessary to the defence and maintenance of White Christian Minority Honour, Power and Privilege (as if seeing such as a means to an end: Subjugating the "inferior peoples"--blacks and those of mixed race which the regime considered "coloured"--to the point of extinction)?

And what about Occam's Razor, a/k/a the Principle of Parsimony (which, know, holds that the simplest explanation considering all the circumstances, not the simplest per se, is the best such)?

Incidental #1,241

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:00:00 GMT

see more Engrish

THE GOOD PEOPLE @ PYRAMID SCHEME ALERT HAVE A POINT TO PONDER FOR SUCH NEEDING EXTRA INCOME in the face of the current socioeconomic dislocation, especially so such as cannot find traditional employment due to circumstances outside their direct control and probably need extra income all the more:

Recession Exposes MLM as Business Opportunity Fraud, Not Direct Selling

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News stories, mostly planted by the Direct Selling Association, seek to dupe unemployed consumers that, despite the Recession - or because of it - they can make a lot of money in "direct selling."

Reality is the brutal opposite. In fact, MLM activity in the Recession - ramping up recruitment of salespeople even as the markets for their products shrinks - is proof that many MLMs are engaging in business opportunity fraud, selling a bogus "income opportunity." The recruitment reveals that many MLMs make their money, not from product sales to retail customers, but from the investments of the salespeople themselves. Recruiting salespeople, not selling products to retail customers, is how such MLMs make money. How would the new salespeople earn money if the markets for their MLM products are declining? By recruiting more salespeople, of course!

The dis-information campaign, launched by the Direct Selling Association, to convince people that selling high priced MLM products door to door is a "safe haven" during a Recession is yet another financial trap, on par with pay day loans, exploding mortgages and suddenly rising credit card interest rates.

For a full analysis of how the MLM's recruitment activity is a red flag for regulators, see the False Profits Blog, "When Market Declines, Hire More Sales People?"

In any case, kudos to Pyramid Scheme Alert for pointing out what could be an inherent, and @ once fatal, flaw to the whole idea of so-called "multi-level marketing" as a "safe harbour" business for such in clear and compelling need of extra income, as well as "keeping out of mischief" (especially so the most [un]likely of MLM's supporters in Low Church Christian "white trash" hard-wired psychologically to refuse any type of help or charity as "undermining moral fibre").

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YOU MAY HAVE HEARD OF THE "MAGIC FINGERS" BED VIBRATOR ("TINGLING RELAXATION AND EASE" @ 25� FOR 15 MINUTES), as was popular in a number of second-rate motels in the 1960's and into the 1970's to help worn-out and tired travellers get ready for sleep when hot malted milk was unavailable and sleeping pills inadvisable ... but how many of you were familiar with its inventor, by name of John Joseph Houghtaling?

I mention this because Mr. Houghtaling, who created the "Magic Fingers" device in the late 1950's (and is still available for home use, howbeit by a different company; the Houghtalings sold the rights to "Magic Fingers" in the mid-1980's), passed away @ the weekend, aged 92 years.

The Exaggerator extends its condolences and sympathies to the Houghtaling family @ this difficult hour.

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AND SPEAKING OF MOTELS, YOUR CORRESPONDENT, IN HIS DESIRE TO PROMOTE THIS BLOG THROUGH UR-DIRECT MAIL (as in the old reliable letterposts), has this weakness for such motels as are not in any way controlled or affiliated with any of the major national chains being so targeted, as it were.

He just can't help himself, especially considering where "spam"--er, "bulk e-mail marketing," to use the industry's rather saccharine attempt @ lily-gilding to create an aura of false credibility--is not only against the Terms of Service (ToS) for the likes of his Internet Service Provider and the host of this blog, but that Your Correspondent considers it to be rather unethical and dishonest, notwithstanding the glowing generalities from the Dregs of Society as are not only transmitting and dissemiating "spam," but also use it for their online marketing exclusively (or so it seems). Not to mention the whole notion of such being sent on an "opt-in"/"permission-based" approach being a canard.

And what's more, the Postal Service probably needs the work in the face of deteriorating letterpost volumes, notwithstanding past abuse in the name of Proper Mental Hygiene implying that my "reckless and irresponsible" use of the mails (as it was so put) "needlessly creates extra and unnecessary work burdens" @ not just Post Offices, but also Regional Sorting Centres and Postal Transportation Centres, among what few clerks they still have "as can't stand having to handle so many more letters than they need to."

Come to think of it: When you consider staying @ a motel for the night on your travels, be they for business or pleasure, have you ever stopped to consider how much you may be paying just for the name when you stay with the likes of Best Western ... Holiday Inn ... Howard Johnson's ... Motel 6 ... Days Inn ... Super 8 ... La Quinta ... Quality Inn ... Hampton Inn ... Master Hosts ... Downtowner/Roundtowner ... Scottish Inn ... or other major chains with their aseptically-sterile "cookie-cutter" predictability and pricing which masks the real costs of the brand(s) you deal with?

Have you considered staying with independent motels, which may actually be better value for money because, for one, you're not paying for some well-known and nationally-recognised brand name and the fancy advertising seen coast-to-coast on national cable networks?

Thus explains, in some measure, this rationale behind the ur-direct mail approach of ethical and responsible marketing for The Exaggerator as targets smaller, independent motels by and large. (In a way, too, The Exaggerator Collection's merchandise can be considered a form of brand-extension advertising and marketing, especially when people get the opportunity to see it in large congregations thereof--preferably the tackier sort of "shoobie traps" appealing to Kankerdom.)

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IF YOU THOUGHT NAZI FETISH PORN WAS RATHER TACKY IN AND OF ITSELF, wait until you see such whose plots revolve around the likes of extreme right-wing "Sovereign Citizen" and "Patriot" movements, cashing in on their collective articles of faith suggesting where women are no better than sexual chattel.

"Breeding stock," in other words, never mind the potential for such warped and misguided elements (usually weird and/or unwholesome, by and large) being drunk, perverted, infected with Loathsome Social Diseases or otherwise hopelessly suffering from hyperjuvenile sex mania of the sort these so-called "patriots" must be fond of expending their sexual energies upon in service to misguided and deluded notions of Race Honour and Preservation ... never mind such "breeding stock" more than likely suffering emotional trauma as could translate into miscarriage or stillbirth, let alone the fruits of such warped orgies developing Fetal Alcohol Syndrome.

(And remember, boys and girls, these same "patriots" see abortion as one with Race Suicide, not to mention expecting such "breeders" to "serve their racial duty cheerfully" until she winds up dying of complications from childbirth and/or Loathsome Social Disease.)

*************

AND TALK ABOUT PROFESSIONAL INCOMPETENCE: South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford--yes, the same Governor Sanford seen for awhile as Hero and Role Model among those in the "states' rights," "tea party" and other weird and unwholesome anti-government elements with appeal to Those of the Lower Classes Especially for seeking Tenth Amendment waivers vis-a-vis Federal Socioeconomic Stimulus Funds, only to back down following court orders--is coming under fire for going off hiking the Appalachian Tral with his wife for a few days, and not leaving any instructions as to who exactly should be in charge in case Serious Problems developed (as mandated in the State Constitution).

Which should be enough to call for certain South Carolinians willing to risk the likelihood of a whimsically-motivated-by-corrupt-weird-or-otherwise-unwholesome-elements Mental Competency Hearing to push for recall proceedings against Governor Sanford, or otherwise calling the Legislature into Special Session to ask for his removal from office due to mental incapacity or incompetence.

Incidental #1,240

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT

YOU MAY OR MAY NOT HAVE HEARD BY NOW THE NEWS THAT ANCHORAGE, THE LARGEST CITY IN ALASKA, was jolted earlier today by an earthquake of 5.1 magnitude whose epicentre was some 55 miles northerly as the crow flies.

And it's probably just me, but it's possible to consider said earthquake (as is guaranteed to bring back memories of the Good Friday Earthquake of 1964 as brought about substantial destruction around Anchorage and Valdez in particular) as Divine Wrath and Judgment upon The Last Frontier for having as its governor a rather obnoxious specimen in form of Sarah Palin, whom the GOP is secretly wanting to preen as Eva Peron reincarnate ahead of Indecision 2012....

Incidental #1,239

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 19:00:00 GMT

"SO MAMA, DON'T TAKE MY KODACHROME AWAY" WAS THE REFRAIN PAUL SIMON MADE FAMOUS in his 1973 Top 40 popdisk hit "Kodachrome."

Now you have to wonder what his reaction will be to the news that Eastman Kodak Company, which introduced Kodachrome film in 1936, has announced that it has ended, for all purposes and intents, production of Kodachrome, citing declining demand, increased acceptance of digital photography and the fact of only one laboratory (in Russell, Kansas, know--hometown of GOP thorn-in-the-side Bob Dole and News of the Weird columnist Chuck Shepherd) still processing Kodachrome in the known world.

(The which is a rather complex such: According to an AP item I was reading on the end of Kodachrome, such is essentially monochrome film when it arrives @ the processors', eventually revealing the three primary colours [red, yellow and blue] in as many separate steps during its processing.)

In any event, Ektachrome, another Kodak photographic film, has become the preferred colour film of choice among those still insisting on film photography in recent years, and will likely remain in production for the time being; with Kodachrome, however, the last remaining stocks will be all that's left, with the last roll likely to be sold sometime this fall.

Meanwhile, for those among you interested in digital photography, you can check out what Amazon.com has in store, with Your Correspondent benefiting in the end (as well as Some Good Causes):

So goodbye, Kodachrome. Photography will never forget you, even if it's mostly digital photography we're getting accustomed to.

*************

MEANWHILE, YOUR CORRESPONDENT STILL HAS TO ASK SUCH AMONG THE ZEALOT AND TRUE BELIEVER TYPES where they get the idea that:

There is an interconnexion between the defence of Traditional Morality and that of free-market capitalism with American characteristics;
Sustained prosperity requires the maintenance of racist and white-supremacist policies and beliefs; and
Only White Male Low-Church Christians are entitled "as of a natural right" to control the "morally superior" free-enterprise system.

Especially since they desire to base such teachings on Holy Writ, howbeit without context more than anything.

*************

WORTHWHILE STEAMBOAT DAYS MEMORY WORTH NOTING: With last evening's fireworks display going off in spite of the threat of heavy rain and thunder (as actually followed some time after; Your Correspondent actually rode his bike back throughout, following a bite to eat @ Kwik Trip after said fireworks), I am reminded of one particular pyrotechnica display back when Steamboat Days had to be held @ Lake Park back in the 1980's to accomodate flood-control improvements on the Winona Levee being carried out.

Which, as it just so happened, went ahead in the face of a drenching rain.

How many of you readers recall fireworks going off in spite of rain?

Incidental #1,238

Mon, 22 Jun 2009 17:00:00 GMT

TALK ABOUT MANUFACTURED EMOTION GONE INTO OVERDRIVE, PANDERING TO THE VULNERABLE AND SUCHLIKE needing extra income, but unable to find honest work due to circumstances outside their control, yet wanting a way to act out of Christian Charity (not the manufactured perversion right-wing Elmer Gantry types promote, only to misuse the funds so collected because of some patsy like "other, more pressing needs came up suddenly")--witness the following "419"-stylee "spam" e-mail with "A CRY FOR HELP" as its subject, received by Your Correspondent:

DEAR BELOVED,

I AM MR. ISAAC WILLIAMS FROM LAGOS NIGERIA, MARRIED WITH TWO KIDS(AGES 3 AND 5) .IN JULY 2007 I WAS DIAGNOSED WITH THE ACQUIRED IMMUNE DEFICIENCY SYNDROME (AIDS) AND I HAVE NOT BEEN

MYSELF SINCE THEN,BEING AWARE OF WHAT THE KILLER DISEASES DOES TO HUMANS.MY FAMILY HAS

DESERTED ME,FRIENDS AND RELATIVES,EXCEPT FOR MY BEST FRIEND THAT GOD HAS SENT TO ME; MR

AKINTUNDE GODWIN, WHO HAS HELPED FINANCIALLY AND IN ANYWAY YOU CAN THINK OF.THEY EVEN KICKED

ME OUT OF MY PLACE OF WORK AND I COULDN'T FIND ANY JOB SINCE THEN BECAUSE PEOPLE DON'T

ACCEPT AID'S PATIENT'S AND I HAVE SINCE THEN RUN OUT OF FUNDS TO PURCHASE DRUGS TO KEEP

MYSELF ALIVE.

MY WIFE AND CHILDREN ARE ALL I HAVE AND THERE IS NO MONEY FOR FEEDING OR FOR THEIR GENERAL

NEEDS. I HAVE BEEN IN THE HOSPITAL FOR THREE MONTH'S NOW AND THE DOCTOR'S HAVE REALLY TRIED

BECAUSE THEY HAVE NOT RECEIVED ANY MONEY FROM ME FOR A MONTH NOW,I AND MY WIFE HAVE SOLD ALL

OUR BELONGINGS JUST TO KEEP ME ALIVE AND THE GOVERNMENT OF THIS COUNTRY IS NOT DOING

ANYTHING ABOUT IT. WE HAVE CONTACTED RADIO AND TV STATIONS TO REACH OUT TO CITIZENS FOR HELP BUT THE RESPONSE HAS BEEN SLOW. AT THIS POINT, THE WORLD IS MY HOPE OF SURVIVING, IF YOU ARE A PARENT THEN YOU WILL UNDERSTAND THAT MY WIFE AND KIDS NEED ME AND I CAN NOT AFFORD TO LEAVE THEM NOW. I AM PRESENTLY AT THE HOSPITAL AND THE DOCTORS ARE TREATING TO KICK ME OUT, WHERE WILL I GO FROM HERE? ONLY GOD KNOW,MAYBE TO THE MORGUE THEN TO THE GRAVE,I DON'T KNOW.PLEASE I IMPLORE YOU TO HELP SAVE MY LIFE,NOTHING IS TOO SMALL,THE ALMIGHTY GOD IN HIS INFINITE MERCY WILL REWARD YOU IN KIND FOR YOUR HELP.

BELOW IS THE INFORMATION OF MY BEST FRIEND AND A MAN THAT HAS THE FEAR OF GOD IN HIM WHO IS A PASTOR. HE HAS STOOD BY ME TILL THIS DAY. PLEASE SEND ALL DONATION'S TO HIS INFORMATION:

RECEIVERS NAME: MR. MOSES FREEBORN

CITY: APAPA

STATE: LAGOS

COUNTRY: NIGERIA

TEST QUESTION : WHAT FOR

TEST ANSWER: SAVING A LIFE

PLEASE PROVIDE US WITH THE NECESSARY INFORMATION NEEDED FOR PICKUP,LIKE THE MTCN AND SENDERS

DETAILS. SEND THE PICKUP DETAILS TO HIS EMAIL ADDRESS:

[redacted]

THANK YOU AND GOD BLESS AS YOU ASSIST US

MRS ROSE WILLIAMS

FOR MR ISAAC WILLIAMS

But then again, how do we know the photo above (from the original e-mail, know) is of this "Mr. Isaac Williams," in whose name and behalf this appeal is supposedly sent, or is really open stock from online sources designed to maximise pity?

How do we know the accounts given here in this "CRY FOR HELP" are authentic, sincere and independently verifiable?

And what's more, how do we know the donations requested here will actually reach "Mr. Moses Freeborn" directly, not to mention such actually being for the aid and comfort of this "Isaac Williams" in what may be his dying hours? (Besides, being given "question and reply" in advance should be a red flag right there; both Western Union and MoneyGram will tell you such should be resorted to only in emergencies, and should not arbitrarily be required as it could be a stalling tactic by swindlers and other dishonest types.)

*************

IT'S QUITE UNDERSTANDABLE THAT WINONA STEAMBOAT DAYS, AS CONCLUDED LAST NIGHT, FOR ALL PURPOSES AND INTENTS, WITH THE FIREWORKS FINALE from the former Latsch Beach, was originally conceived of in 1948 to honour past rivermen on the Mississippi River as much as attract business to downtown Winona. (On the former point, in fact, early editions thereof included a reunion of old steamboat captains and pilots with banquet @ the Hotel Winona, since recast as The Kensington, a seniors' housing venue.)

And it was not uncommon for 1950's-era editions of Steamboat Days to see as much as 75,000 people in the Winona community, especially so the parade through downtown on Sunday afterlunch.

But with the Delta Queen no longer allowed to operate in interstate commerce and its operators (in Carey Street) having essentially drydocked her sister vessels Mississippi Queen and American Queen (in effect cancelling the 2009 cruise season), and the tribute vessel Julius C. Wilkie (essentially a rebuild of the original, brought over in 1956 and destroyed in a 1981 electrical fire) having been demolished as a safety hazard in the past year, @ least one wag Your Correspondent encountered last evening in the concessions area downtown was openly starting to wonder if such should be restyled "Empty Concrete Slab Days" if it expects to have any continued viability. (For the record, the site of the "Empty Concrete Slab" in question whence the aforementioned Julius C. Wilkie was displayed as an object of civic pride has been grassed over pending formal advice on how to redevelop the site consistent with the area being in Levee Park; the open plaza as surrounded the same towards the river remains intact.)

Whether the Winona Steamboat Days Festival Association, established in haste around 1997 to keep Steamboat Days going after its longtime sponsors, the Winona Jaycees, wound up their affairs, effectively jeoparidisng Steamboat Days' future @ the time, will give due and serious consideration to restyling such "Empty Concrete Slab Days" or find some other apropos appellation therefor ahead of the 63rd annual such (tenatively scheduled for 16-20 June 2010, but subject to final confirmation), is anybody's guess. In any case, they would appreciate your thoughts on the great(?!) notion, which can be sent by letterpost to:

Winona Steamboat Days
PO Box 745
Winona, MN 55987-0745
UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

Or, if you prefer e-mail, send your comments (politely, please) here.

(Sponsorship enquiries should be likewise directed.)

In case the likes of Ripley or, for that matter, Snopes.com starts taking notice of the ensuing row--the same with the late-night chat-show hosts (especially so Conan O'Brian and David Letterman)--due credit should be given to this blog.

Incidental #1,237

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 23:15:00 GMT

AS MENTIONED PREVIOUSLY, READERS, YOUR CORRESPONDENT WILL BE UNABLE TO POST TOMORROW out of deference to my likely being occupied by the last day of the Steamboat Days celebration in Winona and its component events, in particular the parade and the Fireworks Finale.

Not to mention the inevitable people-watching I seem fond of.

I hope to be back Monday in this humble space, and beg entreat you (especially such leaving EntreCards) to keep visiting this blog, and likewise recommending this to friends. Later in the week, as announced, I will begin the annual summer hiatus.

In the meantime, The Exaggerator expresses its solidarity @ this time with the freedom-seeking peoples of the so-called "Islamic Republic of Iran," bravely defying State and religiopolitical censorship through use of the Information Stuporbahn to keep the world informed on developments as could change things one way or the other within measurable distance.

Incidental #1,236

Sat, 20 Jun 2009 20:00:00 GMT

WITH THE SUMMER OF 2009 NOW HAVING ARRIVED IN THE NORTHERN HEMISPHERE (THE MINNWISSIPPI INCLUDED), Your Correspondent couldn't help but notice quite the muggy sort of feeling here alongside generally sunny conditions after lucking out (so to speak) on rough weather yesterday afterlunch into evening.

Which, it turns out, wound up afflicting Indiana for the most part with serious flooding ... and triggering a major heat spell across the Former Confederacy which could see maxima exceed or @ least approach 100 degrees and upwards over the next few days (and which could best be explained as Divine Wrath and Judgment thereupon for continuing to support the Straight Republican Ticket in line with the Nixon-vintage "Southern Strategy" from Indecision 1968 of playing up racist paranoia in especially weak-minded, easily-influenced "white trash" voters, especially the sort unlikely to be retrained for The New Green Socioeconomic Paradigm because of hard-wired complacency vis-a-vis unskilled manufacturing in the likes of textiles, iron and coal, paper and sugar refining.

(Not to mention being too dependent upon Al Cohol, Wally World, NASCAR, hyperjuvenile mindsets towards sex and high-fat/sugar/sodium diets, among other aspects of Southern Cultural Heritage in the "white trash" mindset for their own Greater Collective Good.)

=============

MEANWHILE, HERE IN THE MINNWISSIPPI, WHERE STEAMBOAT DAYS IS ESSENTIALLY IN ITS FINAL HOURS (concluding tomorrow night with the fireworks), Your Correspondent spent much of this morning perousing around the car show downtown, and couldn't help but be impressed @ just how much love and attention car collectors will take in preening their "muscle cars" for display (even with a 1925-vintage Ford Model T and a 1951 Ford pickup doubtless having seen better days).

Last night, over in the carnival area, the T-shirts spotted by Your Correspondent included plenty of Aeropostale, South Pole and Hollister California designs (including one in which the California state flag, itself based on the 1846 "bear flag" following a brief attempt @ independence from Mexico, was modified to read "HOLLISTER REPUBLIC") and such snappy slogans of the hour as these:

"I'm Not a Gynecologist ... But I'll Have a Look"
"You Can Have My Sister"
"Everyone Has a Right to My Opinion"
"Everyone Has a Right to Be Stupid, But You're Abusing the Privilege"
"My parents said I could become anything, so I became an [N4BSK]"
"I Wish You Were a Pinata"
"I-Tune You Out"
"Live, Laugh, Love"
"Surf, Laugh, Love"
"Ask Me If I Care"
"Boobies Turn Me On"
"Some Beach"

(By contrast, The Exaggerator Collection, this blog's own e-boutique, prefers to concentrate on featuring the logotype thereof in the various items of T-shirts and assorted other ephemera offered for purchase therefrom; as reminder, part of the proceeds I get will be turned over to, among other Good Causes, the Reduction of the National Debt. This in line with intended designs for the online-shopping component of this blog generally.)

*************

NOT MANY KNOW THIS, BUT DANIEL PETER, THE SWISS WHO DISCOVERED MILK CHOCOLATE IN 1876, was not the sort to believe in advertising his Gala Peter bar (and whose label could be seen as an early advocate of European Unity long before the European Union was conceived a few years after World War II), thinking it was better to let the product speak for itself; hence, the consumer should judge the Gala Peter on its merits and benefits.

I bring this up in view of where the cultural conservatives' preferred Acme and Perfection of Amerikanischer Realkultur, otherwise known as Branson, MO, is using certain bloggers to essentially shill for Die Bransoner Muzikschaukultur for pay (as expected to be identified accordingly, in line with Federal Trade Commission guidance).

Let's just hope Wisconsin Dells doesn't fall for the same game Branson is playing in the Greater Blogosphere, instead expecting bloggers to judge the Waterpark Capital and its several distractions solely on its merits and benefits so discovered, not as unwitting media whores for certain Zealots and True Believers whining (more than likely under Al Cohol's influence, methinks) about the "New York-Hollywood Axis of Cultural Evil***showing Reckless and Utter Disregard and Contempt for the Culture, Heritage and Values of Real Americans."

(Remember, for "Real Americans," read: Poor, undereducated or homeschooled, easily-led and socioeconomically-disposessed "white trash," tending to reside in lower-income or otherwise socioeconomically-disadvantaged ZIP+4 codes with few or no real job or career advancement prospects aggravated by a lack of realistic job or career skills which National Christian Homeschooling especially is unlikely to promote, instead pushing bumper-sticker slogans of oversimplified Religiopolitical Right pablum to be parroted out as "Christian Witness" if and when required.)

=============

WHICH PROMPTS MOI TO REMIND THAT THE ONLY PAY HE WOULD PREFER TO GET FROM BLOGGING HERE @ THE EXAGGERATOR would take these forms:

Voluntary donations through the Virtual Tip Jar (powered by PayPal, know); and
Commissions from purchases made through one or more of the several e-tailers with whom The Exaggerator hath affiliation with (including The Exaggerator Collection).

And getting back to using the Greater Blogosphere to push Wisconsin Dells for pay: I would rather prefer that such opines be fair, impartial and sincere, preferably through the likes of TripAdvisor.com and VirtualTourist.com, which allows for actual, honest, sincere opines from actual visitors to all the popular shoobie traps (and allows intending shoobies themselves to rate these opinions for themselves) without any likelihood or expectation of consideration. (I will acknowledge, though, where my recommending Vertical Illusions in Wisconsin Dells on the latter when they first opened as "a worthy alternative to T-shirt shops" seeming to be overdone to excess in the Waterpark Capital actually gave them quick the kickstart in the business department. And continues doing so to this day, even after a move a couple years back.)

As it ought to be.

Incidental #1,235

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 20:30:00 GMT

see more Engrish

YOU COULD JUST IMAGINE "JESUS BODY" BEING THE CHRISTIAN ANSWER TO QUICK (AND POTENTIALLY DANGEROUS) WEIGHT LOSS, were it to be available here in our "morally superior" United States (though this is actually from Japan, even allowing for the "Engrish" on the packaging).

But then again, on the other hand, you could imagine certain overzealously Fundamentalist Low Church Christians objecting to the very name "Jesus Body" on Blasphemy grounds (cf. C.W. Post having to hastily rename his corn flakes, heretofore known as Elijah's Manna, Post Toasties; the English, in fact, refused to extend trademark protection for "Elijah's Manna" because of "blasphemous connotations" invoking the name of the Old Testament prophet fed by ravens.

(But then again, Dr. John Harvey Kellogg's Battle Creek Sanitarium, which introduced corn flakes to the world in 1896, was originally a product of the Seventh-Day Adventists, whose teachings extend to vegetarianism and dietary reform; in fact, the Seventh-Day Adventists are a major health-food wholesaler, even owning United States distribution rights to two popular European coffee substitutes, Pero and Cafix ... and "Down Under," the Seventh-Day Adventists' biggest money maker is Sanitarium Weet-Bix cereal, itself an Australian icon alongside Vegemite, Allen's Minties, Arnott's sweet biscuits and crispbreads, Napi-San, ETA barbecue sauce, Milo [a close cousin of Ovaltine, in case you ask], Aeroplane Jelly Crystals and Sweet's Golden Gaytime ice-cream bars.)

*************

MEANWHILE, IN THE HIGH-SPEED PASSENGER-RAIL ARENA IN THE "MORALLY SUPERIOR" UNITED STATES, Your Correspondent feels due consideration ought be given to the potential for conventional-design coaches of lightweight body construction providing such a concept in the interim.

Especially where the need to achieve value for money is desired.

Surely, we can learn from the past: Some of the more legendary high-speed trains pre-Amtrak, especially so 1930's and 1940's vintage, used conventional-design streamlined coaches, among them:

between Chicago and the Twin Cities, the 400 of the Chicago and North Western and the Milwaukee Road's Hiawathas;
the New York Central's Mercury between Chicago and Detroit, the James Whitcomb Riley between Chicago, Indianapolis and Cincinnati, and the New York-Albany-Buffalo Empire State Express;
the pre-Metroliner Congressionals of the Pennsylvania between New York, Philadelphia, Wilmington, Baltimore and Washington, DC;
the New Haven's Boston-New York stalwarts of the Yankee Clipper, Merchants Special, Bankers and Gilt Edge; and
the Southern Pacific's Los Angeles-San Francisco Coast Daylight.

And let's not forget what the Canadians were up to in the mid-late 1960's with the Canadian National's Tempo Service between Windsor and Toronto (using newly-built coaches) and the Rapidos (using specially-rebuilt coaches) between Toronto, Ottawa and Montr�al.

So what would stand in the way, especially if the diesel engines powering this new generation of high-speed services used biodiesel or diesel-turbine engines to maximise fuel economy towards energy self-reliance?

Incidental #1,234

Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:15:00 GMT

JUST MOMENTS AGO, ONE OF SEAN HANNITY'S GOOD AND LOYAL SPONSORS ON HIS RADIO CARNIVAL OF PROLEFEED, BY NAME AND STYLEE OF MARK STANFORD, has been indicted on charges in connexion with a Ponzi scheme in the form of Stanford International Bank Certificates of Deposit.

(The Sean Hannity angle being very important because a Stanford International affiliate selling investment-grade gold coins to Mr. Hannity's audience of weak-minded, undereducated and less-sophisto listeners had been advertising all the while, with Mr. Hannity perhaps [un]consciously [un]aware of Mr. Stanford's questionable repute and morals.)

In any case, Mr. Hannity needs to be asked some questions (politely, of course) as to the interconnexions vis-a-vis Stanford International, and what prevented his knowing that Stanford International's operations were of a dubious or questionable nature taking advantage of an obviously vulnerable and less-than-sophsito audience so as to allow him to continue having Stanford International as a radio sponsor.

*************

MEANWHILE, IN THE SO-CALLED "ISLAMIC REPUBLIC OF IRAN," SUPREEM LEADER AYATULLAH ALI KHAMENI used Friday prayers to reiterate previous Divine Judgment and Pronouncement that incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad won last week's Presidential "elections" fairly and honestly, and warned opposition leaders and sympathisers of "dire consequences" if they continued with their protests.

Reinforced with the obligatory call for National Unity and Cohesion in the name of G-d and the People.

Which, in the minds of some Who Should Know Better, has our "morally superior" society and nation, otherwise known as the United States, caught in "deliberate" doublethink with:

President Obama, on the one hand, insisting that the Iranian People and Nation have a legitimate and sovereign right to self-determination through the agency of the ballot box and free, fair and transparent elections; and
the GOP's leadership in Congress, on the other hand, taking Obama to task (@ least when they're not busy sucking up to WorldNetDaily in its star-crossed campaign questioning the "natural-born" status of President Obama) for failing to stand up to the "oppressed peoples" of Iran in the face of potentially rigged elections (never mind the GOP's articles of faith essentially calling for such as a Holy of Holies to maintain their "natural right" to power from everlasting to everlasting).

And even with spontaneously-generated(?!) chants of "Death to Israel! Death to America! Death to Britain!" during televised coverage of said prayers, Mein Innkeeper Friend, in mentioning this item on the news this morning @ the motel he does for, wondered if the Iranian People and Nation weren't somehow (un)consciously (un)aware that their candidates included one with a past history of Notorious Dictatorial Tendencies.

That, and the GOP secretly calling for (howbeit super-secretive, details to be revealed to the public only "subject to certain signs having been received," North Korean propaganda stylee) "pre-emptive" ur-RAHOWA against Iran, preferably through "show-no-mercy" campaigns tending to outright sadism and tolchocking galore.

=============

FROM THE SO-CALLED "UNION OF MYANMAR," DEMOCRACY ADVOCATE AUNG SUN SUU KYI MARKS HER BIRTHDAY TODAY TREADING ON LANDMINES, as it were, with her "trial" (or unreasonable facsimile thereof) for Violating the Terms of House Arrest essentially in recess and human-rights advocates expressing Clear and Compelling Concern about how other Myanmari "prisoners of conscience" under the iron-heel mentality of the military regime may fare within measurable distance, using Aung Sun Suu Kyi as an Example and Warning.

Including the prospect of "preemptive" death sentences tending to the arbitrary and uncalled for.

=============

NORTH KOREA SEEMS TO HAVE BROKEN THE SUPPOSED GLOBAL MONOPOLY HELD BY WEIRD AND UNWHOLESOME "PATRIOT" TYPES here in our "morally superior" United States in using counterfeiting of Federal Reserve Notes as an agency of destabilising the economy towards socioeconomic collapse and anarchy, notwithstanding "projectionist" propaganda by the latter as routinely blames Jews and the "international bankers" supposedly used by the Jews as tools in agency of the Complete and Final Achievement of Total World Domination by Undermining Christendom.

Only in Pyongyang's case (the whole, perhaps, being the first test of "Dear Guide"-designate Kim Jong Un towards his being named the unqualified "Dear Guide" under supervision of his father, "Great Leader" Kim Jong Il), said counterfeiting (especially so of $20, $50 and $100 denominations) serving as furthering the "middle-finger salute" targeting the United Nations Security Council's passing further socioeconomic sanctions on North Korea which seek to further reduce North Korea into pariahdom. Anyhow, the Secret Service has asked bankers to be on the watch therefor, especially where large numbers of queer notes are being passed by North Korean nationals through the banking system on the account of North Korean entities allowed to operate licitly in the United States.

*************

COULD THE MAYO CLINIC BE THE LATEST DISTRACTION @ THE MALL OF AMERICA IN BLOOMINGTON, MINNESOTA, joining the some 520 retailers across four levels, sixteen restaurants, an 11-screen cinema, Underwater World and Nickelodeon World @ Mall of America, within measurable distance?

(Never mind that Mayo's presence @ Mall of America will likely take the form of what's being promoted as "Mayo Clinic Gateway," which would be staffed with Mayo Clinic physicians providing outpatient and urgent care to shoppers who wind up getting ptomaine poisoning @ the fourth-level food court or vertigo on one of the rides @ Nickelodeon World. In any case, details are just now being developed.)

One thing as is worth noting about this emerging interconnexion: Airport shuttles operated by Go Rochester Direct serving the Mayo Clinic's hometown of Rochester already call @ the Mall of America on request after serving the Lindbergh Terminal @ Twin Cities International Airport, via the Public Transportation Centre.

*************

SO MUCH FOR THOSE "SPAM" E-MAILS OF THE "419" STYLEE ASKING "ENDEAVOUR TO USE IT FOR THE CHILDREN OF G-D" OR "MY DEAREST WISH--THE LADY VICTORIA CHARITABLE FOUNDATION" or similar bromides seeking your unqualified assistance in handling supposedly substantial fortunes because someone is dying (or so the patsy hath it) and converted suddenly through Christian Witness, with G-d supposedly instructing the (presumed) sender to use her fortune to help widows and orphans in particular:

Disney/Pixar recently sent the family of a 7-year-old girl who had suffered a rare and terminal form of cancer (which Garrison Keillor would likely call a Rare Blood Disease) a specially-prepared DVD of the current theatrical release Up in spite of her condition preventing her from leaving home and seeing it in cinema.

(The girl died of her condition some seven hours after seeing the DVD.)

*************

MEANWHILE, THE MUGGINESS IN THE MINNWISSIPPI CONTINUES AS STEAMBOAT DAYS IN WINONA reaches its high-water mark, continuing through the weekend (and luckily, we lucked out of severe weather as afflicted the Northeast Iowa/Southeast Minnesota border counties overnight) ... but still, another round of awful weather may be possible towards evening before things improve over the weekend's climax.

Incidental #1,233

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 21:45:00 GMT

HELD DEAR AS AN ARTICLE OF FAITH AMONG LOW-CHURCH CHRISTIANS WHO SHOULD KNOW BETTER, ESPECIALLY SUCH ASSOCIATING WITH SO-CALLED "PATRIOTS," is the argument that homosexuality is an Aberration and Travesty of Nature Contrary to the Natural Order; hence, any acceptance of homosexuals or homosexuality should be seen as one with Perversion or otherwise Borderline Disloyalty (cf. McCarthy "Red Scare" mindsets carried onward by the John Birch Society crowd suggesting that anyone not embracing the "correct" conservative line should be looked upon as a Communist or Communist Sympathiser, and, hence, Disloyal).

But, as the old adage holds, "to every rule, there is an exception."

In this particular instance, as explained for you by the Southern Poverty Law Centre's Hatewatch blog:

Scott Lively has made a ministry career that spans two decades and three continents, in part by preaching that the Nazi Third Reich was helmed and orchestrated by gay men. That�s the central thesis of his book The Pink Swastika, and it played a pivotal role in Lively�s co-founding of the international anti-gay hate group Watchmen on the Walls. For years now, historians, watchdog and gay civil rights groups have called Lively out on his slander. But now, the anti-gay crusader faces a formidable new critic on his own home turf. Warren Throckmorton, a well-respected conservative Christian psychology professor, has been exposing Lively�s false claims in evangelical Christian magazines and blogs.

What set Throckmorton off was Lively�s March appearance at an anti-gay rights conference in Uganda, where homosexuality is already a crime punishable by life in prison. In the capital city of Kampala, Lively rehashed his gay Nazi stump speech and called for Ugandan gays and lesbians to be forced into so-called �conversion therapy.� Since then, as Throckmorton notes, �lists of people suspected to be gay have been included in tabloids, various ministers have accused other ministers of being homosexual, and Christian groups are calling for the government to create a commission to eliminate homosexuality � all supported by American Christian ministries.�

�[T]here is a disturbing parallel with the Nazis, but it is not with the homosexuals,� Throckmorton writes in the Christian web magazine Crosswalk. �In Uganda among Christian groups and government leaders, and encouraged by Mr. Lively, homosexuality is considered the root of society�s evils.� In response, Throckmorton has launched an ambitious project to discredit Lively�s books and analyze how the anti-gay rights leader came to formulate his idea that �the Nazi Party was entirely controlled by militaristic male homosexuals throughout its short history.�

Throckmorton says Lively�s obsession with linking gay men to Nazi fascism began in 1992 with Oregon�s Ballot Measure 9, which would have mandated that public schools teach that homosexuality is �abnormal, wrong, unnatural and perverse.� The ballot measure was drafted and supported by the Oregon Citizens Alliance, whose communications director was Scott Lively. As gay rights activists drew comparisons between Measure 9 and the Nazi treatment of homosexuals, Lively and his Pink Swastika co-author Scott Abrams sought to make, in Throckmorton�s words, the �massive leaps of logic and fact required to make National Socialism an invention of a cohesive homosexual plot.�

Engaging Lively in his own shaky logic, Throckmorton posed this question to Lively: �If homosexuality was so associated with National Socialist ideals and aims, then shouldn�t the current Nazis be dominated by homosexuals?� Throckmorton then digs up several websites from the National Socialist Movement, the largest and most high-profile neo-Nazi group in the U.S. He finds that all NSM chapters ban non-white and non-heterosexual members; one of the chapters, in fact, puts it explicitly: �Homosexuality is a social degeneracy that must be expunged from our society.�

Taking it a further step, Throckmorton invited Grove City College history professor Jon David Wyneken to analyze the claims of The Pink Swastika. Wyneken, a scholar of German history between 1933 and 1955, picks apart Lively�s distorted and cherry-picked quotes to conclude that �Lively�s book is simply not good history and is, in fact, not really history at all.� The U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum notes that between 5,000 and 15,000 homosexual men were forced into Nazi concentration camps where they were beaten, castrated and killed.

Throckmorton may seem like an unlikely person to confront Lively�s ideas. In 2004, he produced the video �I Do Exist,� profiling teens and young adults who claim to have become �ex-gay� � a �conversion� idea that is also embraced by Lively. (Most medical and psychological professional associations say that homosexuality is not a pathology and cannot, in any event, be �cured.�) But Throckmorton has also been a vocal critic of several therapies pushed by the ex-gay movement and has an audience among conservative and evangelical Christians. He has also called on schools to prevent bullying of gay students. Throckmorton cautions that his video should not be purchased by anyone �looking for a way to express to gay people that they should change their sexual feelings to be acceptable to God.�

As for Lively and those who believe his revisionist allegations, Throckmorton warns fellow believers: �When Christians make spurious comparisons to the Nazis, they should not be surprised when the targets of those comparisons lash back and consider them hateful. There should be little wonder why they don�t feel the Love.�

But then again, there's always the possibility that some on the Religiopolitical Right, especially so the weird and unwholesome sort, will start playing up within measurable distance glowing generalities of apartheid South Africa from the White Afrikaner Perspective in the name of "reclaiming America from herself" thanks to President Obama's election and the "deep state agenda" as is the subject of atrocity paranoia propaganda.

Not to mention some offering correspondence and online courses in the Afrikaans language, as well as encouraging study and emulation of White Afrikaner Culture and Heritage in the name of White Racial Honour and Pride, along with fundraising appeals likely to cause serious disruption of the economy in "poor white trash"-dominated ZIP+4 codes aimed @ the "emergency evacuation" of the Afrikaner Population of South Africa on dubious "refugee" and "fear of persecution" claims which should raise red flags in the immigration section of the American Embassy in Pretoria and its associated Consulates in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg (the one in Cape Town serving the general area of Die Volkstaat Orania, the Afrikaner's last-gasp attempt @ 'n Afrikaner Nasionalehuis within South Africa; Johannesburg, the Free State, having the largest population of Afrikanerdom, especially so the sort considering Afrikaans their primary language).

Such "appeals to White Christian Honour and Pride" will want to be watched all the more closely for especially pandering to latent feelings of bigotry and/or fraud, mismanagement and misuse of funds--especially by way of last-minute diversionaries to "more pressing and urgent needs," not otherwise explained.

Incidental #1,232

Thu, 18 Jun 2009 19:30:00 GMT

UNTIL THE THREAT OF BAD WEATHER FORCED YOUR CORRESPONDENT TO CALL IT AN EVENING, his walking around the Steamboat Days carnival area to people-watch could be considered somewhat uneventful were it not for the wind blowing around the smoke from the grills serving the Winona Chamber Ambassadors brat stand, in essence creating its own atmosphere and aroma around the concessions area ... the amplified music around a couple of the rides (Himalaya and Zipper) ... and, among the T-shirts spotted were the likes of such characters and shows as Hello Kitty, Dora the Explorer, Go Diego Go!, Hanna Montana and High School Musical, not to mention one showing:

Popeye the Sailor @ a poker table wearing "bling" jewellry;
"Obama Rock!";
"It's Not Easy Being a Princess" (of the sort common to the tackier shoobie-trap resorts);
Chip and Dale under the caption "Nutty;" and
The front showing a bored 'tween proclaiming "I'd like to do my homework ...", and on the back, same 'tween hyperacting to a video game proclaiming "But I'm BUSY!!"

However, considering the weather here in the Minnwissippi not being that promising (in fact, the forecast is calling for potentially severe weather, as may or may not include @ least one tornado), the possibility of Your Correspondent's presence in the carnival area of Steamboat Days this evening is close to nil. But that depends on how the weather turns out after supper or thereabouts.

Likewise tomorrow.

*************

NO WONDER FOX PROLEFEED HAS SUCH A HARD-WIRED CONTEMPT SO PURE AND UNALLOYED AS IT SOUNDS towards the vulnerable, the socioeconomically-marginalised and -dispossessed, and those in clear and compelling need--otherwise known as the Lower Classes, among such groups seen by Fox Prolefeed and their K Street droogs as Clear and Present Danger to the Scala Natura Americana they seek to defend "as of right," not to mention same being seen as "essential to the defence of Our Sovereignty and Sovereign Identity as a Peculiar Among the Nations."

(And with a mindset right up there with Imperial China in slow and painful decline thanks in large measure to the overbearing influence of the Empress Dowager Cixi, herself a rather notorious opium addict to the extent that she chose the grossly incapable by virtue of his Extreme Youth the six-year-old Pu Yi as Emperor of China on her deathbed in 1906--only to be overthrown himself by Dr. Sun Yat Sen's Nationalists in 1911.)

Want examples of such loathsome and uncalled-for contempt, readers? News Hounds (motto: "We watch Fox so you don't have to") has some interesting examples worth knocking the proverbial Mickey out of here, here, here and here, for your Enlightenment and Edification (never mind conservative Zealots equating Enlightenment with Serious Mental Illnesses and Disorders). And while you're @ it, reader, may I be the first to suggest that Fox Prolefeed be taken to task for displaying Page Three-stylee soft-porn cheesecake for purely distractionary purposes, and without due regard for journalistic relevance (and don't accept any patsies they may try to give you seeking but to protect themselves).

=============

WHICH BRINGS TO MIND SOMETHING WORTH ASKING SUCH AMONG THE ELMER GANTRY CROWD who, in their endorsing Fox Prolefeed as being "fair, balanced and credible" in contrast to the "biased" CNN and MSNBC, may be (un)consciously (un)aware of Fox Prolefeed's tacit use of Page Three-stylee soft porn without clear or compelling editorial justification, yet all the while (as if engaging in overt doublethink) claiming to be defenders and torchbearers for Traditional White Christian Morals, Decency and Common Sense of the kind apartheid South Africa expected of its White population (especially so by way of the "Make Babies for Botha" campaign to increase White birth rates in the 1980's).

*************

OFFICIAL APARTHEID-REGIME MYTHOLOGY AND PROPAGANDA WAS FOREVER SUGGESTING that White South Africans were Morally Incapable of committing rape because they were expected to see themselves as "racially superior" to the "retrograde" blacks because they were--wait for it!--GOOD CHRISTIANS ALL!

However, as the BBC is reporting, that piece of racist mythology has been discredited in a new study which could be equally insightful among us "morally superior" Americans vis-a-vis the male chauvinist mindsets of the Extreme Right and its droogs (especially so the "Sovereign Citizen" crowd):

One in four South African men questioned in a survey said they had raped someone and nearly half admitted having attacked more than one victim.

The study, by the country's Medical Research Council, also found three out of four who admitted rape attacked for the first time while in their teens.

It said practices such as gang rape were common because they were considered a form of male bonding.

The MRC spoke to 1,738 men in KwaZulu-Natal and Eastern Cape provinces.

The research was conducted in both rural and urban areas and included all racial groups.

Using an electronic device to keep the results anonymous, the study found that 73% of respondents said they had carried out their first assault before the age of 20.

Almost half who said they had carried out a rape admitted they had done so more than once.

One in 20 men surveyed said they had raped a woman or girl in the last year.

Professor Rachel Jewkes of the MRC, who carried out the research, told the BBC's World Today programme: "The absolute imperative is we have to change the underlying social attitudes that in a way have created a norm that coercing women into sex is on some level acceptable.

"We know that we have a higher prevalence of rape in South Africa than there is in other countries.

"And it's partly rooted in our incredibly disturbed past and the way that South African men over the centuries have been socialised into forms of masculinity that are predicated on the idea of being strong and tough and the use of force to assert dominance and control over women, as well as other men."

She added that all the victims in the main survey were said to be women, but participants were also interviewed about male rape.

'Sad state of affairs'

The study found that one in 10 men said they had been raped by other men.

Some 3% of the men interviewed said they had coerced a man or a boy into sex.

The participants were also tested for HIV and the authors of the survey were surprised that men who had raped were not more likely to test positive for the virus.

Mbuyiselo Botha, from the South African Men's Forum, which campaigns for women's rights, told the BBC's Focus on Africa programme that any view of women as "fair game" had to be challenged.

Mr Botha, a father of two girls himself, said: "I think that yes, the figures are that high and for us, for me in particular, that is a very sad state of affairs.

"It means that we continue in South Africa to be one of the highest capitals of rape in the world.

"I don't think it's cultural per se; I think it has to do with how a lot of us men worldwide were raised. The issues of dominance against women, issues of inequality, are pervasive and you find them throughout the world."

South Africa's government has been repeatedly criticised for failing to address the country's rape epidemic.

A recent trade union report said a child was being raped in South Africa every three minutes with the vast majority of those cases going unreported.

And though South Africa is specifically addressed in this survey, its results (and underlying message) could speak volumes about how deeply latent hubris about machismo being one with Racial Honour and Identity (especially so among Archie Bunker/Alf Garnett types) can go too far in being a defence to rape, sodomisation and overdone machismo.

Especially the sort where "racial honour" can be used as a patsy (in theory) to get off scot-free.

Come to think of it, just how many of the rank-and-file among white nationalist groups in our "morally superior" United States could willingly and openly acknowledge having engaged in outright rape and excuse such as "healthy male bonding***necessary to White Racial Honour"?

Incidental #1,231: Not quite Twitter, but am trying to keep it brief

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:15:00 GMT

CONSIDERING THE INVOLVEMENT OF THE SO-CALLED "AMERICAN FAMILY ASSOCIATION" IN THE NEXT ROUND OF SO-CALLED "TEA PARTY" RALLIES on July 4th, you have to wonder if their agenda is one which suggests an interconnexion (howbeit flawed) between the defence of Traditional Moral and Family Values and that of free-market capitalism with American characteristics being one with Our Antient and Peculiar Sovereignty and Sovereign Identity as a Peculiar Among the Nations.

An interconnexion bordering on conflation which may be fatally flawed from the perspective of Logic and Common Sense.

Would you likely agree?

Incidental #1,230

Wed, 17 Jun 2009 18:30:00 GMT

see more Engrish

THE OFFICIAL PLATITUDE THE IRANIAN GOVERNMENT HAS GIVEN IN BARRING FOREIGN JOURNALISTS FROM COVERING THE ONGOING POST-ELECTORAL UNREST is that Tehran "cannot guarantee their safety" in the wake of said unrest getting rather nasty to the extent of casualties ensuing.

As if that weren't enough, Iranian websites and webloggers are being asked to take down such content as could be seen to "incite provocation," though not being specific on what is implied--even if they're using back-door channels on the Information Stuporbahn like social networks and microblogging services like Twitter to provide updates on developments.

The which the intelligence services are especially watching all the more for cluedos into what exactly is going on as the so-called "Islamic Republic of Iran" verges on the same plane of collapse as that of the Shah's regime which brought about said "Islamic Republic" in 1979.

But then again, official Iranian propaganda is claiming that foreign media outlets are somehow acting as agents provocateur when it comes to the ongoing anti-government unrest; could this be the "real" explanation behind the official advice about the Iranian authorities being unable to guarantee the safety of foreign journalists?

No wonder Fox Prolefeed has such a blatant and reckless disregard for Truth when all is said and done....

*************

SORRY, DICK CHENEY: TORTURE IN THE NAME OF PROCURING INTELLIGENCE UNDER DURESS, FEAR OR COERCION IS ACTUALLY INEFFECTIVE, and (if we are to accept the testimony of one Zacharias Moussaoui) is all too easily prone to deliberate fabrication serving only the sadisto whims of the tormentors excusing the whole as being pro Deo et patria when asked to explain.

*************

BELFAST, NORTHERN IRELAND HAS NO DOUBT SEEN ITS SHARE OF THE CRUDEST, VILEST AND UGLIEST SECTARIAN VIOLENCE thanks to "the Troubles" vis-a-vis Protestants and Roman Catholics starting some 40 years back.

And a new chapter seems to be written there over recent days as a number of Roma (gypsy) families from Romania have had to seek shelter in a church hall after being subjected to racist taunts, bullying and all-too-frequent displays of the Nazi-stylee goosestep, stiff-arm salute and "Heil Hitler!" being barked as if on cue targeting such neighbourhoods where Roma have settled over recent months.

It seems those engaging in such infamous displays of bullying must love seeing the issue of Anti-Social Behaviour Orders (ASBO's) by police, in some cases "on the spot," as Badges of Honour and Pride in the name of misplaced racist arrogance. That, and hearing the same pathetic-sounding recording of Enoch Powell's infamous "Rivers of Blood" speech, vintage 1968, being an adrenaline rush of the highest order (@ least until the tape gets worn or otherwise breaks apart).

*************

IF THE FIRST ROUND OF SO-CALLED "TEA PARTY" RALLIES COINCIDING WITH THE FEDERAL INCOME-TAX DEADLINE OF APRIL 15TH were sponsored by "astroturf" movements using the Great Unwashed (expected all the while to see themselves as "Real Americans") to parrot bumper-sticker slogans representing the agenda of "the Four Hundred" ... you'll never guess who's sponsoring the next round thereof, set for the July 4th holiday (gimme-cap tip to Right Wing Watch for calling this item to my attention):

American Family Association has Taxed Enough Already (TEA) Party rallies scheduled in 1,145 cities for July 4. The family organization is opposed to the spending policies promoted by President Obama. Such policies call for record spending and deficits.

�Our grandchildren and great-grandchildren will be paying the bill for President Obama�s reckless spending spree,� said AFA Chairman Donald E. Wildmon. �Our national debt is already a trillion dollars, and the president is planning to spend trillions more. It is a crime and a sin to place this heavy debt on our children,� he stated.

Wildmon said that if government controlled health insurance is put into law, as Obama wants, the deficits will climb several trillion dollars higher.

On April 15, approximately 600,000 individuals attended rallies sponsored by several organizations around the nation. With the exception of Fox News, all the other mainline national media nearly ignored the protests.

The organizing committee in each city is responsible for selecting the site and time of the rally, and inviting special guests to address the rally. Individuals wanting more information can to go www.teapartyday.com.

American Family Association is a pro-family advocacy organization with over 2.5 million online supporters.

(And we know who most of the AFA's online supporters are: Poor White Trash of the most guillable, easily-influenced sort known: Undereducated or Christian Homeschooled, lacking in realistic job or career skills, unable to hold down steady work for extended periods, possibly dysfunctional or broken-home background and upbringing explaining possible hidden emotional problems they don't want to face up to, frequent resort to Intemperate Habits generally, doing too much of the shopping @ Wally World for their own good and arrogant, hubris-powered Low Church Christians whose minds can be easily influenced for "political work" as could prove dangerous to liberty, yet cannot question or challenge thanks to what may best be called ur-Scientologist mind-control and doublethink techniques.)

In any event, this new round of "tea parties" exploiting the 233rd anniversary of America's Antient and Peculiar Sovereignty and Sovereign Identity would well be worth some healthy (and @ once polite, please) counterdemonstrations challenging the potential of their attracting especially the vulnerable, the ignorant and the easily-influenced from the likes of low-income ZIP+4 areas best described as Culturally-Depraved Environments.

=============

AND SPEAKING OF THE WHOLE "TEA PARTY" "MOVEMENT," you'll never guess the sort of people ideologically attracted to same--for one, borderline Dregs of Society having scores to settle with the IRS or other government agencies that said Dregs consider as "payback."

Right Wing Watch, again:

For many of the protesters, these TEA Party efforts stem from ideology and partisanship, while for others they just might stem from more personal reasons ... such as owing the IRS $13,000:

A Bozeman political activist who persistently calls for the government to lower taxes had amassed an income tax debt of almost $13,000 before a bankruptcy judge relieved him of much of that burden, court records show.

Henry Kriegel, a radio talk show host and president of Montanans for Tax Reform, owed the Internal Revenue Service $10,326 in taxes, interest and penalties from taxes levied on him in 2003, the documents show. Last month, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Ralph Kirscher ordered the IRS to relieve Kriegel of the debt as part of a Chapter 7 bankruptcy filed by Kriegel earlier this year. Kirscher also ordered Kriegel to pay the IRS $2,547 in taxes and penalties from 2007.

Kriegel was at the forefront of the tax day tea party protest held April 15 in Bozeman, and he is helping to organize a subsequent protest planned for July 4 in demonstrations that protest high government spending, the growing national debt and taxes.

...

Kriegel has been an ardent critic of the U.S. tax code. Montanans for Tax Reform advertises itself as being �about smaller government, less taxes and keeping more of your hard-earned money in your pocket.� Since 2002, the group has sponsored the Taxpayer Protection Pledge, a written promise to oppose tax increases that is signed by legislators and candidates for office.

He has a contract with Grover Norquist�s Americans for Tax Reform to lead monthly meetings of state and local taxpayer groups, social conservative groups, business groups and legislators to promote limited government policies.

While it may be ironic that it was the tax-payer-funded federal court system that wiped out an estimated $6,000 of Kriegel's debt to the IRS, he's not about to let that stop his anti-tax activism:

Kriegel said his own history with taxes did not dissuade him from speaking out publicly about the tax code.

�I don�t believe that disqualifies me from speaking out on the issues I believe in,� he said. �I could have taken the choice of cowering in the darkness or I could choose to speak out against the largest issues of our time.�

�Taxes are too high. Government is too large,� he said.

He said the tax day tea party and upcoming demonstration had little to do with taxes, saying the focus of the demonstrations is high government spending and the growing national debt.

And, he said, he plans to continue his activism.

�The tea party movement is much bigger than me. I don�t plan on backing down. I don�t plan on backing down at all,� he said.

Considering that the acronym "TEA" in the name stands for "taxed enough already," the idea that these protest aren't about taxes is laughable ... but not as laughable as the fact that a man who owed the IRS $13,000 in taxes and penalties is contracted to Grover Norquist's organization and leading local TEA Party efforts.

And Another Thing: How do we know the so-called "American Family Association," as is behind the next round of "tea party" rallies, isn't secretly supported by "the Four Hundred" as a means to an end; viz., the protection of their supposed Antient and Peculiar Rights, Privileges and Powers "entitled [them] as of Natural Right," so making them, as it were, as much an "astroturf" movement as the so-called "Americans for Tax Reform," among other right-wing causes using the "tea party" movement as a "United Front" to confuse, trick or mislead the vulnerable and easily-led?

Incidental #1,229

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 22:00:00 GMT

AS THE SONGWRITER ONCE ENCAPSULATED THE SCENARIO OF DILEMMA, "did you ever have to make up your mind?"

Right Wing Watch @ People For the American Way perhaps demonstrates the dilemma well on the Religiopolitical Right's part when it comes to the issue of hate crimes (all the while insisting that Low Church Christians in particular are entitled to "special rights, privileges and powers as of right," not unlike Afrikanerdom in apartheid South Africa so claiming):

One of the main points I have tried to make in my various posts on hate crimes legislation is the obvious hypocrisy of the Religious Right as they decry the so-called "special protections" that such legislation would grant to gays while simultaneously ignoring the same "special protections" they already have as Christians under existing hate crimes legislation. As I wrote a few weeks ago, "It seems that, for the Religious Right, the predominant theme of late has been 'special rights for me, but not for thee.'"

The Right basically has two options in opposing protections for sexual orientation: explain why gays don't deserve the same protection offered to religion and race or call for the elimination of hate crimes laws entirely.

The latter, according to Tiffany Stanley of Religion News Service, seems to be the tactic of choice for at least some Religious Right groups:

With a Democrat-controlled Congress and a president who has indicated his support for the Matthew Shepard Act, time may be running out for its opponents. To stop the legislation, a few Christian leaders have suggested repealing all hate-crimes law, which would undo historic protections for race and even religion.

"The entire notion of hate-crimes legislation is extraneous and obsolete," said Matt Barber, director of cultural affairs with the conservative nonprofit Liberty Counsel, adding that he believes hate-crimes laws are unconstitutional.

...

"All violent crime is hate crime," said Tom McClusky, vice president for government affairs at Family Research Council here in the capital. "What drives an individual to commit a violent crime but hate for their victim?"

Frankly, if they really believe that all hate crimes laws should be repealed, then these groups need to explain why the existing enhanced penalties for a racist who burns a cross on someone's lawn or a neo-Nazi who burns down a synagogue are "extraneous and obsolete." Good luck making that case.

But there are others, like Focus on the Family, who say they don't support doing away with existing hate crimes laws, but just don't think gays should be protected:

If, as opponents of the bill say, gays and lesbians do not deserve hate crime protections, then who does?

Focus on the Family does not favor repealing hate-crime laws, but sees sexual orientation and gender identity as changeable, unlike race, for instance, said Ashley Horne, federal policy analyst for the Colorado-based group.

While Horne acknowledges individuals can change their religion, that category is the exception to the rule because "the government has historically protected religion since the founding of this country."

So it is perfectly fine that hate crimes laws protect people on the basis of religion because the government has always protected religion, but gays don't deserve similar protection despite the fact that there are nearly 2.5 times as many violent hate crimes targeting individuals because of their sexual orientation as there are violent crimes targeting individuals because of religion?

This is basically the Right's view in a nutshell: gays don't deserve hate crimes protection while religion does because religion is special ... and if the government is going to try and grant similar protections to gays, they'd rather lessen penalties for racists and anti-Semites than let that happen.

And it makes you wonder whether the Religiopolitical Right, in its hubris-laden Zealotry and True Belief, must be practicing doublethink of the highest order while walking the proverbial tightrope under the circumstances just explained for you.

In any event, such doublethink, especially the kind packaged as True Patriot Love in All Thy Sons Command (preferably with the lash, though they don't want you to know about it--openly), needs to be challenged.

(Aren't they the same sort who see affirmative-action laws as "undermining the special rights, privileges and powers traditionally entitled White Christians"?)

Incidental #1,228

Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:30:00 GMT

see more Engrish

THE PRECEDING SPECIMEN OF "ENGRISH" FROM A PACKET OF CANDIES, is it not, perhaps, a reflection of this weblog's desire to be informative with its own mix of Hilarity and Snarkyness?

(Even when you consider where, as I post these observations to the Information Stuporbahn, Steamboat Days arrives tomorrow, rain could be imminent and I'm changing [and laundering] the bedsheets; the last one was probably all the more necessary, come to think of it.)

*************

AND TALK ABOUT "ASTROTURF" AS A MEANS OF WHIPPING UP "WHOLEHEARTED AND SPONTANEOUS POPULAR SUPPORT" in the State's name through trick and deception equalled only by the "tea party" movement in our "morally superior" United States (sarcasm intended):

As the so-called "Islamic Republic of Iran" theoretically "rejoices" in the "wholehearted" "reelection" of President Ahmadinejad, even to the point of calling for a "public rally" in Beautiful Downtown Tehran among Ahmadinejad's support base, the "Guardian Council"--a sort of "deep state" within itself, so to speak--has announced that it would call for a selective recount of ballots in disputed precincts to pacify opposition supporters who say the whole was rigged and manipulate from the get-go. Which the aforementioned opposition won't accept, insisting instead on an outright recount or, failing that, a rerun of the elections within measurable distance. Is it any wonder that the Religiopolitical Right must be watching these developments all the more wholeheartedly in the interest of "new and innovative strategems" for voter intimidation in Indecision 2010?
North Korea continues its middle-finger salute to the world (and especially so, in this instance, the United Nations Security Council, who unanimously approved further sanctions against Pyongyang) with what the official media claimed was a "spontaneous popular demonstration of defiance" in Beautiful Downtown Pyongyang's main square where "thousands" forcibly bused in for the day were expected to parrot bumper-sticker slogans (or what passes for them) of defiance in the name of "Eternal Leader" Kim Il Sung, "Great Leader" Kim Jong Il (who was probably sick in bed all the while, and watched the proceedings on TV) and "Dear Guide" Kim Jong Un.

Now tell me, reader: Would you consider the preceding to be as much "astroturf" (manufactured "grass roots," as it were) as the whole "tea party" movement of easily-led "Fundamentals of the Economy" unaware of their being used as pawns for right-wing political ends and purposes?

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CHINESE KARAKOE BAR HOSTESS DENG YUJIAO (21) IS BEING HAILED AS A RELUCTANT HERO OF SORTS after being found guilty of Causing Intentional Injury by a court in Baodong County of Hubei Province on charges of murdering one Deng Guida with a letter opener and wounding Huang Dezhi, both local officials, after refusing their overtures to join them in a bath on the 10th ultimate.

However, the court, citing a "mental imbalance" on Ms. Deng's part, has released her from the likelihood of extended penal servitude (she claimed to have acted in self-defence, further helping fuel public sympathy across China for her actions, no matter how vile they may have appeared, in dealing with corrupt and misguided public officials.

In any event, Ms. Deng deserves commendation for her show of courage in the face of such corrupt overtures, and her willingness to say No to such excesses which could have put her all the more in harm or danger.

And yet, here in our "morally superior" United States, there are certain weird and unwholesome types, calling themselves "Real Americans," who try to nuance their anti-government beliefs by claiming they are "anti-corrupt government"--and yet, secretly, want Theocratic Rule which could too easily be cover for corruption, mismanagement, waste and fraud (all to be conveniently excused as being in His Name)!

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STILL CONSIDERING USING A "DEBT NEGOTIATION" OR "DEBT SETTLEMENT" COMPANY TO DEAL WITH OUT-OF-CONTROL CREDIT CARD DEBT, knowing all the more that such will ask you to end all contacts with creditors and deal exclusively with the "debt settlement" agency "to improve your advantage" to the likely point of collection agencies making annoying calls @ all times?

You might actually have a better chance (and free of cost, it turns out) to reach an ur-Offer In Compromise by talking with creditors directly, including credit-card issuers; I see where some issuers have delegated power to call-centre staff @ Cardholder Services to offer settlement and debt-repayment plans over the phone to those who ask--politely, of course.

(But then again, be prepared to settle the debt up front.)

*************

IT APPEARS AS IF THE DAYS OF LOUD OR OBNOXIOUSLY STRIDENT COMMERICALS ON THE VIDIOT'S LAMP OF DIOGENES COULD BE NUMBERED, if Congress (and, ultimately, the FCC) and/or broadcasters have anything to do with it:

On the one hand, Congress is considering legislation as would obligate the FCC to mandate volume-control limits on television commercials so that they must be presented @ a level which is no louder than the average for surrounding programming.

But then again, the preceding could be something of a "trigger," inasmuch as, on the other hand, broadcasting-industry technical working groups are working on adopting industry-wide guidance on acceptable volume and modulation levels for commercial messages to avoid the FCC's "needlessly breathing down [their] necks" in "wasteful, unnecessary and costly regulatory burden," as the K Street crowd would expect the industry to parrot in calling for a self-regulatory approach to the question.

Until then, in case you notice where certain commercials turn out being needlessly loud or strident, contact the Audience Services department of the station whence you noticed the ad in question, giving details of the date, time and products or services being advertised in such unacceptable stylee.

*************

AS IF CARRIE PREJEAN'S BEING STRIPPED OF HER MISS CALIFORNIA USA TITLE WASN'T GIVING AID AND COMFORT GALORE to the weird and unwholesome claiming to defend "the Sachristy and Purity of Marriage"--a backdoor channel of "healthy Christian homophobia," methinks--it's emerged that Hustler is offering Ms. Prejean $500,000 to appear in puris naturalibis therein.

Which these backdoor homophobes as are essentially manipulating Ms. Prejean are unlikely to accept, considering such to be coming from Auld Hornie "himself" (cf. the apartheid South African regime, in holding the Defence of Traditional Moral and Familial Values to be one with the defence of White Racial Honour and Integrity, banning Playboy and suchlike from the country as being "the works of the Devil himself.")

Incidental #1,227

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 19:00:00 GMT

HORACE WALPOLE THE ELDER WAS NO DOUBT RIGHT WHEN HE OBSERVED that "this world is a comedy to those that think, and a tragedy to those that feel." (Remarks widely, and yet incorrectly, attributed to George Bernard Shaw, and with "the" being the first word.)

And yet you have to wonder how it is that Your Correspondent can manage to get things done--as in getting preparations for his Wisconsin Dells trip underway, producing this rather lame example of a weblog (and thinking about how to phrase things for its content), and keeping office mornings (coffee service included) @ the motel he does for here in Winona.

And stay sane in the process, especially considering his past history of abusive maltreatment and cruelty too easily emphasising a "better living through chemistry" mentality (as in anti-psychotic medications having sedating side effects being a magic key towards Proper Mental Hygiene) requiring almost-constant ignorance for fear of being subject to hastily-called and rigged sanity proceedings in the courts.

When it comes to the Dells trip, for example, he's taking things oh so gradually, starting with the purchase of train tickets back in April to take advantage of decent fares on what passes for the service currently available between Winona and the Waterpark Capital and, well before that, putting away a little money from time to time towards expenses. In recent weeks, it's included the purchase of spray-on sunblock and aloe-vera preparations, getting the reservations made for the motel, and getting tickets for some of the distractions (waterparks included) ready as well. It'll get down to brass tacks on the July 4th weekend, with the critical packing out of the way, followed by departure on the 7th July.

You have to pace yourself, come to think of it.

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MEANWHILE, THE STEAMBOAT DAYS CELEBRATIONS HERE IN WINONA THIS WEEKEND will likely take up some of my time during its run, especially so evenings, meaning there will likely be a cutback in the EntreCard dropping rate on my end while I take in what passes for the "people-watching" and T-shirt watching opportunities in the Midway area. (I'm not one who's too keen on rides, understand.)

Sunday, of course, will be rather busy: Parade, people-watching throughout, and the Fireworks Finale that night. (As a matter of fact, the main reason Steamboat Days was moved from its traditional July 4th weekend fixture to the Father's Day weekend a few years back was to get better opportunities for plum marching and float units in Sunday's parade and better value for money in the Fireworks Finale, considering where the July 4th weekend sees plenty of celebrations in area communities, notably Riverfest downriver in LaCrosse.)

As for the blogging, I'll try to do the best I can in the interim prior to the traditional Summer Hiatus, which I hope to get into next week. And one reason therefor is to accomodate as much the Dells trip as a need to recharge my creative energies.

Incidental #1,226

Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:45:00 GMT

see more Engrish

NO WONDER THE ZEALOTS AND TRUE BELIEVERS IN VOTER INTIMIDATION AND SUPPRESSION IN SERVICE TO THE GREATER CONSERVATIVE AGENDA and its warped articles of faith must be following especially consciously and @ once thoroughly developments from Iran's so-called "Presidential elections" of Friday.

Especially so that which occureth on the overnight, as in the wholesale arrest and "preemptive" detention of opposition leaders and supporters for "inciting civil disorder" and "undermining the Islamic Republic" just as incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's reelection was "confirmed" by the Interior Ministry, seconded by the so-called "Council of Experts" (as in high-level Islamic scholars) ... and affirmed on national television by President Ahmadinejad "himself."

Twice in the same evening.

Even to the extent of calling for "spontaneous popular demonstrations" as were probably structured well in advance (cf. so-called "tea party" rallies promoted by "astroturf" movements connected to "the Four Hundred" and their self-serving business interests, all the while claiming to represent the working-classes to avoid suspicion) in Beautiful Downtown Tehran and other major Iranian centres.

But one thing is for sure: The whole was really a farce, neither free, fair nor transparent ... and expect President Ahmadinejad, if he survives the coming days of turmoil, to continue with his agenda of hard-line corruption and socioeconomic mismanagement in the name of Islam (or so the official line will have it) towards "wiping Israel off the map" with nuclear weapons produced amongst the Azaleas of Yongbyon.

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AND AMONGST THESE SAME AZALEAS OF YONGBYON REVERED IN A MUCH-LOVED KOREAN FOLK SONG, the North Koreans will make good their "sovereign right" to produce atomic weapons from enriched uranium and plutonium, in effect giving a Middle-Finger Salute in the name of "Eternal Leader" Kim Il Sung, "Great Leader" Kim Jong Il, and "Dear Guide" Kim Jong Un.

And in whose names the Great Unwashed North Korean Masses from the Demilitarised Zone to the Yalu River (which is the boundary with so-called "People's Republic of China") are being expected to take smaller rations all the more, reinforced with atrocity paranoia about wholesale famine and starvation across especially the United States.

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THE SAME LUNATIC FRINGE WHO WAS FOND OF KILLING TIME ON OWL-SHIFT TALKBACK RADIO SOME 15 OR 20 YEARS BACK (especially so the likes of Larry King and Jim Bohannon) with supposed "reports" about the treatment of "political prisoner of conscience" Lyndon LaRouche @ the Federal Medical Centre, Rochester, MN, with highly-potent mind-control drugs from time to time (the veracity and credibility thereof @ best doubtful) are probably preparing to do likewise with James von Brunn (as in the Holocaust Museum Massacree on Wednesday past) within measurable distance.

Only this time, using the agency of the Information Stuporbahn (with particular emphasis on the Greater Blogosphere) all the more to spread "atrocity" propaganda flavoured with conspiracy theories inspired, methinks, by Al Cohol, Mary Jane Weaver and/or Dr. Snow (among other mind-altering substances known to heighten paranoid tendencies) as suggest, among other Incredibly Amazing Claims Not Expected to be Verified Independently (and, hence, to be Accepted Without Question or Reservation by the Great Unwashed), that Herr von Brunn is being given super-secret hypodermic injections of the old sodium pentothal ("truth serum") under extreme sedation overnights (to be officially excused in hospital medication records as "vitamin injections") ... that said "truth serum" is somehow secretly mixed in with the IV drip solution ... and that, though "critical, but stable" medically (as of this item being posted), Herr von Brunn is being kept alive all the more "for political reasons" involving President Obama and Homeland Security Secretary Napolitano (even to the extent of forging documents, thanks to Microsoft Word, Adobe Acrobat or OpenOffice, claiming Obama and/or Napolitano "authorised" such "extreme measures," notwithstanding where such programmes can produce documents so authentic-looking, even police experts in document forgery can be tricked vis-a-vis their authenticity and sincerity).

And not just the Greater Blogosphere: Expect the Greater ConWeb to be suckered into the charade and farce all the while, with a plum audience of the poor, undereducated or homeschooled, easily-influenced, socioeconomically-disadvantaged and -dispossessed and mentally or emotionally unstable accepting the claims as fact (and especially so on so-called "conservative news portals" like NewsMax and WorldNetDaily, who would love to pay premium dollars for such tips bordering on the incredibly and incredulously queer--and know, readers, I use "queer" in its archaic sense of "deceptive, counterfeit," as in the colloquialism "queer as a three-dollar bill"--which is what this appears to be when all is said and done).

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"EARTH TO PALIN! EARTH TO PALIN!" DEPARTMENT: In reply to Alaska Governor Sarah Palin's rather pathetic demand (seconded by conservative "patriot" and "Real American" groups picking up on the meme) that David Letterman please apologise to those Chaste Treasures (as per Laertes in Hamlet) known as Young American Girls for Recent Crass, Tasteless and Uncalled-For Jokes on his Late Show this past week, and with unashed hands @ that:

May I suggest that Ms. Palin read through carefully the Supreme Court's 1988 ruling in Falwell v. Flynt, which upheld satire targeting the prominent and powerful as one with First Amendment-protected free speech. (The case, recall, stemmed from a claim by the late evangel Jerry Falwell being the butt of a parody ad for the Italian ap�rtif Campari published in Larry Flynt's adult magazine Hustler; Falwell, for his part, contended that the tone of the parody, though clearly labelled as such, caused harm to his good name and repute among his Good and Loyal Droogs among mostly Low Church Christians of a certain class--for the most part low and, in a way, lower.)

*************

AND ONE THING MORE: A tip of The Exaggerator Gimme Cap to the Lake Delton community of the Wisconsin Dells "shoobie trap" district on the successful relaunch (and just one year to the day of its sudden disappearence in floodwaters; Ripley, take note) of the namesake body of water as is part and parcel of the Waterpark Capital.

And especially so to the Tommy Bartlett Thrill Show, back on waterskis after the enforced-by-Act-of-God lapse last summer, returning with an entirely new act ... and, by all accounts, with the stands packed (or close to it) as before for this its 57th season in Wisconsin Dells (56th on Lake Delton, considering last season's washout).

And to think it all started with the Cypress Gardens waterskiiers (the Mother of All Waterski Show Troupes) performing on Lake Michigan @ the Chicago Railroad Fair of 1948 as part of the Chicago and Eastern Illinois Railroad's exhibit, "Florida in Chicago," inspiring a popular radio and TV personality of the time out of the Windy City!

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WHICH BRINGS UP SOME RATHER INTERESTING TRIVIA ABOUT THE GLORY DAYS OF WHEN EVERYBODY TRAVELLED BY TRAIN, and more often than not had to change in Chicago ... which, before Amtrak came along @ the behest of the railroads in 1971, saw six major intercity rail termini (transferring passengers using the storied Parmlee Transfer coaches to get from one to the other), served by these railroads:

Union Station: Milwaukee Road; Burlington (including services to the West such as the Empire Builder, North Coast Limited and California Zephyr); Gulf, Mobile and Ohio; and Pennsylvania.
North Western Station: Chicago and North Western.
(Prior to 1955, the Chicago and North Western handled the Chicago-Omaha portion of Union Pacific services for major Western points, including the Cities services; after 1955, and until Amtrak, Milwaukee Road handled same.)
LaSalle Street Station: Rock Island and New York Central's Big Four and "Water Level Route" lines (including the fabled 20th Century Limited).
Dearborn Station: Chicago and Eastern Illinois (in particular their Dixie Flyer for the South); Erie (later Erie Lackawanna); Monon; Nickel Plate; Santa Fe and Wabash.
Central Station: Illinois Central and New York Central's Michigan Central lines.
Grand Central Station: Baltimore & Ohio; Pere Marquette (later Chesapeake & Ohio) and Soo Line.

(And lest I forget, mention might want to be made of the somewhat obscure Englewood Union Station on the Near South Side, especially popular with such transferring between the Rock Island's Golden State Limited and the likes of the Pennsylvania's Broadway Limited or New York Central's 20th Century Limited, but @ the same time wanted to be discreet or otherwise wanted to avoid the distracting glare of attention from the Chicago gossip columnists during the transfer, inevitably involving the Parmlee Transfer vans and the related bedlam and confusion.

(In a similar vein, many Hollywood celebrities who took the train in its salad days preferred to get on or off @, depending on the train they took, Pasadena or Glendale rather than Los Angeles Union Station; the better to avoid overzealous fans and autograph seekers while concurrently insisting upon privacy and discretion. Never mind that recurring gag on Jack Benny's show about the train caller proclaiming "Train leaving on Track 5 for Anaheim, Azusa and Cu--camonga!" when the story line so involved.)

Incidental #1,225

Sat, 13 Jun 2009 21:10:00 GMT

SO MUCH FOR THE UNITED STATES EXPECTED TO BE SEEN AS "MORALLY SUPERIOR" TO ALL OTHER NATIONS, an article of faith to be held dear (or so Fox Prolefeed and their conservative droogs want all so-called "Real Americans" thinking)--especially after you read the following by way of Internation Musing, and ponder over its deeper message:

More than two weeks ago The New York Times runs an article with the heading: �Going Dutch�. When I was reading the article, I remembered a conversation with a Dutch CFO of a Dutch multinational in Miami in 2002. He was in the process of getting a green card and I in the process of getting a work permit, which was granted within 3 weeks. Thank you America, unfortunately, I never made use of it since I moved, after having obtained the work permit, to my current home, Istanbul.
Anyway, this CFO and friend of my, tried to convince me that in the end people in America, the average one, pays much more tax than for example the average Dutch in the Netherlands - but it can also be another person from one of the Nordic countries which have all the same �social democratic system� often in the USA declared as �communalistic� aka Communists! Yuk, don�t label us that too easy!

I put several excerpts of that article of the New York Times Magazine here below�and especially to all the American Conservatives, reading this article, have fun..)

�� For 18 months now I�ve been playing the part of the American in Holland, alternately settling into or bristling against the European way of life.��

�� For the first few months I was haunted by a number: 52. It reverberated in my head; I felt myself a prisoner trying to escape its bars. For it represents the rate at which the income I earn, as a writer and as the director of an institute, is to be taxed. To be plain: more than half of my modest haul, I learned on arrival, was to be swallowed by the Dutch welfare state. Nothing in my time here has made me feel so much like an American as my reaction to this number. I am politically left of center in most ways, but from the time 52 entered my brain, I felt a chorus of voices rise up within my soul, none of which I knew I had internalized, each a ghostly simulacrum of a right-wing, supply-side icon: Ronald Reagan, Jack Kemp, Rush Limbaugh. The grim words this chorus chanted in defense of my hard-earned income I recognized as copied from Charlton Heston�s N.R.A. rallying cry about prying his gun from his cold, dead hands.��

Note: only people in one of the highest income groups pay �as a starter 52% tax�. For sure, he�s able to go at least 3 times a year on holiday, from 1 week to a trip of 3 weeks, probably the USA..)!

��And yet as the months rolled along, I found the defiant anger softening by intervals, thanks to a succession of little events and awarenesses. One came not long ago. Logging into my bank account, I noted with fleeting but pleasant confusion the arrival of two mysterious payments of �316 (about $410) each. The remarks line said �accommodation schoolbooks.� My confusion was not total. On looking at the payor � the Sociale Verzekeringsbank, or Social Insurance Bank � I nodded with sage if partial understanding. Our paths had crossed several times before. I have two daughters, you see. Every quarter, the SVB quietly drops $665 into my account with the one-word explanation kinderbijslag, or child benefit. As the SVB�s Web site cheerily informed me when I went there in bewilderment after the first deposit: �Babies are expensive. Nappies, clothes, the pram . . . all these things cost money. The Dutch government provides for child benefit to help you with the costs of bringing up your child.� Any parents living in the country receive quarterly payments until their children turn 18. And thanks to a recently passed law, the state now gives parents a hand in paying for school materials.��

Note: until recently, the payments were unlimited regarding children � if you have 10 chilren for each child you get money. Now only until your 3th child. Still fair, or not?

�Payments arrive from other sources too. Friends who have small children report that the government can reimburse as much as 70 percent of the cost of day care, which totals around $14,000 per child per year. In late May of last year an unexpected $4,265 arrived in my account: vakantiegeld. Vacation money. This money materializes in the bank accounts of virtually everyone in the country just before the summer holidays; you get from your employer an amount totaling 8 percent of your annual salary, which is meant to cover plane tickets, surfing lessons, tapas: vacations. And we aren�t talking about a mere �paid vacation� � this is on top of the salary you continue to receive during the weeks you�re off skydiving or snorkeling. And by law every employer is required to give a minimum of four weeks� vacation. For that matter, even if you are unemployed you still receive a base amount of vakantiegeld from the government, the reasoning being that if you can�t go on vacation, you�ll get depressed and despondent and you�ll never get a job.��
��Such things are easy for an American to ridicule; you don�t have to be a Fox News commentator to sneer at what, in the midst of a global financial crisis, seems like Socialism Gone Wild.��

Note: He forgot to mention here the bonusses and Christmas and end of years extra payments. But read and enjoy the full article herrreeeee

And don't ask me why I as a Dutch live in Turkey...

After all: Since when did "True Americanism" require adherence to an unyielding and unswerving goodthoughtfulness (orthodoxy, as it were) rooted in xenophobic nativism, isolationist self-sufficiency based on free-market capitalism with American characteristics, warped and misguided interpretations of Divine Writ excusing a "Great White Father" mindset vis-a-vis the aforementioned free-market capitalism, and True Patriot Love in All Thy Sons Command excusing Archie Bunker/Alf Garnett mindsets being one with officially-approved "groupthink" (any deviation therefrom to be seen as one with Serious Mental Illness)?