Schmaltz und Grieben mit Alois, Klaus, Deb und der Lugers

 

The Cool Kids: Muldia (on hiatus) Lileks Berg Insomnomaniac Zee n' Lig Malkin Footballs Frank J.  Whittle Muir Dr. DNA Belmont Geras Barber Totten Levant Lies Anti-CAIR McMillan Liberal Utopia Iraq Graham Remal / Brown Wannabe Voices O'Malley Burns Medlock Jihad Watch KevinV Lumina Thomas
Important Thinkers: Victor Davis Hanson Charles Krauthammer
Ralph Peters Mark Steyn Jeff Jacoby The Institute on Religion and Democracy
The Dark Side: Name Your Treason Al-Jizz Pacific Views Perkel Kos CAIR Dhimmicratic Underground

Who the Hell Are We?

"...the most-improved blog I know of... always a good read."
Mitch Berg, Shot in the Dark

"...I like they way they present their view even when I don't agree."
Lewis Medlock, Deliverance

"...fortuitously discovered in my recent wanderings - good stuff."
Zee, Road Sassy

"...entertaining and provocative. Just how I like it."
Rachel Arieff

"Malignant."  Tim Dailey

....................


July 2008


07/20/08:

DAILY GAAAAAAZ-O-LEEEEEEN! AWARD: I was talking yesterday to my old friend Debbie [not our co-blogger], who recently moved with her family from Washington State to Montana.

I asked her how she likes it there in Big Sky Country.

"I love it, even if everybody back East probably thinks there's nothing out here but cowboys and Nazis.

"Oh wait, that's Idaho."

Posted by Alois on

 

07/19/08:

THE DARKEST HOUR IS JUST BEFORE THE DAWN: Whoever came up with that hoary old adage may have known what they were talking about.
 
After my momentary breakthrough as a concrete-pourin' grunt, I thought for a fleeting instant that my "employment problem" might be a thing of the past (I still blame, as does Klaus, would-be empire builder and golf course magnate Sam the Sham—the man who relieved both of us of our jobs without so much as a warning or a fare-thee-well). But after a few days in the concrete truck, I began to be reminded of a brief stint in Everett, Washington working for a roofing contractor. I was exhausted at the end of every day, and during my work shift the other roofers would bark back and forth in a strange code that I struggled to understand. And a failure to understand right that instant could have disastrous consequences.
 
It's the only job I ever simply walked away from. And even though I could hardly afford to, it was impossible to regret that decision.

The truth is that this has been a terrible year for yours truly. Working for the "Shitty Shuttle Company" in Madison, where safety was not even a concern—only ensuring that the "highly paid medical professionals" arrived at their jobs on time, during the worst winter in Wisconsin's history. It was an impossible assignment, and after three months I parted company with the Shitty Shuttle Company before someone got seriously hurt.

Naturally, I went back to driving school buses. It was really my first love, and the company I drove for made it clear that safety was the number one priority. The only drawback is that I was working fifteen hours a week, not forty. The money wasn't hemorrhaging away (like it had when my unemployment ran out, and before I got my CDL), but the leak was still pretty bad.

The sun came out for a couple of months in the spring as the snowbanks finally receded. I got a tanker and airbrake endorsement on my CDL and went to work for a wonderful local company, delivering liquid fertilizer to farmers in southern Wisconsin. I loved the Co-op; not only was safety deeply incorporated into their culture ("We don't run around here. But if you see somebody running, RUN!"), there were no real time strictures. A delivery might be made "between 10 a.m. and noon," and management made it plain that drivers were welcome to stop somewhere for a cup of coffee or just to stretch their legs. What I remember best from my days at the Co-op are many happy hours spent plying the secondary roads of rural Wisconsin in my shiny silver tanker, never feeling rushed, watching the wildlife wake up after the overlong winter and making friends with dozens of farmers (whom we were encouraged to hang around and shoot the breeze with, because that was "good for business"). I would have gladly spent the rest of my working years driving for the Co-op... but alas, it was only a temporary position.

Meanwhile, I continued to drive my beloved school buses. The Co-op had employed several school bus drivers from my company, and the two firms enjoyed a very good working relationship. When I needed to take time off from the Co-op because the bus company had a crisis, it was never a problem.

But then the school year came to an end, my stint at the Co-op had run out, and I was once again on the skids. Thanks, Sam.

That's why I was so relieved when I got a full-time gig pouring concrete, and so devastated when I realized that I wasn't up to the physical demands of the job.

Back to pounding the pavement. It had now been a year and a half since Sam the Sham, that fine Christian gentleman, had kicked Klaus und I to the curb. Klaus had recently found another good position as a biochemist in Madison, but I was still at loose ends. I was applying at Wal-Mart and Costco, hoping that something might work out and I could at least earn a few cents over the minimum wage. I was a fifty-year-old native-born American male with a science degree from a major university and a CDL with four endorsements, and I would have felt thrilled to be a greeter at Wal-Mart.

Welcome to the new PC-obsessed Korporate Assclown America.

Fortunately for me there was a small but healthy transit company that had been around Madison since before the Depression, and this company was trying to grow its school-bus division. Their informal ethic stressed the importance of getting along with people above all else. They needed a "people-motivated" kind of guy to train their new school bus drivers, and in fairly short order I managed to convince them that I was that person.

I love my new job. The other day I took one of their flat-front Bluebird buses out for a long cruise, just to get the feel of it. I was parked on a suburban street in McFarland, watching guys from my former employer line up to pour concrete on a sweltering day. Later I'd return to my air-conditioned office, shoot the breeze with the colorful people who work for the company, and finish typing up my pre-trip training sheet. Later that afternoon I'd take another bus out and pick some kids up at summer school.

I almost hate to say it, but it was worth the wait. And worth my long, long sojourn in the wilderness.

Posted by Alois on

WEDNESDAY ON SATURDAY: This is what will happen when you start a new job (see above).

But wasn't it worth the wait?

Posted by Alois on

TODAY'S MUST-READ: A Masjid Grows in Brooklyn, by Sarah Honig.

Operative quote: But of more immediate concern to Kathy and the few leftover neighborhood natives is the "in-your-face insolence of the immigrants."

Got that?

Remember the days when our immigrants were so grateful to be in this country that they all flew American flags from their front stoop, and couldn't wait to learn English?

Which leads me to another question: Who the hell let these America-hating lunatics into the United States, and WHY?

Posted by Alois on

 

07/13/08:

IT TAKES A BRAIN, NOT AN ASSHAT: Nick "No one sucks more than the USA" Kristoff has the budget solution to defeating terrorists!

Klunk! (Sound of hand hitting head a la "I coulda had a V-8" commercial)

Why couldn't I have thought of it! Don't fight the terrorists with missiles and armies, build schools!

Just one problem....I wonder if Kristoff will accept responsibility when the bad guys assassinate the school-builders? And what will he do with those frightened students who realize that they were taught ideals that cannot help you survive when the bad guys decide to kill you? (The teachers should have thrown in some training in the use of guns, etc....)

Show me a "good" society that was not born from a desperate but successful armed struggle? The USA, Israel, South Africa, Vietnam, Algeria, etc...

If people who want to establish totalitarian regimes are not killed off, they will constantly threaten and use violence to subvert moderate, tolerant regimes. That is the way it has always been for 6,000 years of human history. That is lesson number one of the Old Testament: the evil knowledge/spirit gained from eating the forbidden fruit was the desire to control others instead of acquiescing in the realization that all living beings are "controlled" by whatever higher power put us all on this island of life in an otherwise sterile universe, and that higher power's first principle is do no harm to others, particularly our own kind (a.k.a.. other humans).

This is what kind of "solution" we can expect to see more of if we continue to put more faith in our own personal cleverness than we put into the lessons of history, never mind the teachings of any higher power.

In other words, If people in power start to reflect Kristoff's attitude any more than they already do (i.e., if Obama wins and the Dems retain full control of Congress), I think Timbuk-3 will need to rewrite that song.....

Posted by Deb on

 

TALKING SMACK: Ahmadrunkenjerk Sez He'll "Cut Off Hands" of U.S., Israel if They Attack Iran

"Hey, Makkkkkh-moud? How's about we just turn you into a great big hole in the ground if you don't quit talking smack? Read my lips: Free oil!"

Where's Ronald Reagan when we really need him?

Posted by Alois on

 

07/09/08:

IMAGE OF THE DAY: Ballyshannon, County Donegal, Ireland.

 

Image credit: Paddy Donagher


Posted by Alois on

 

OBAMESSIAH? JUST ANOTHER HUNGOVER JOE WHO'S LATE FOR CHURCH. The Apocalyptic Visionary of the Dhimmicratic Party decides he'd better vote for the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act after all.

Our guess: Somebody on his staff just explained to him what "Southerners" are.

Posted by Alois on

ON A WOODLAND PATH... there's Reon Kadena in, um, a billowy white sheet.

Hey, it's art, okay?

Happy Wednesday!

Posted by Alois on

 

07/08/08:

ALBANIA UPDATE: I've long been fascinated by this struggling little country on the Adriatic, and that was before it emerged from decades of Enver Hoxha's deranged Stalinist dictatorship to become (gasp) a majority-Muslim nation that is probably the most pro-American place in Europe, where even George W. Bush is treated like a rock star.

So read about Michael Totten's recent visit to the country's breathtaking north (where he was treated like a rock star), and don't miss this interesting investigation into the little-known saga of how Albania saved all her Jews during the Second World War.

Posted by Alois on

 

07/07/08:

THE BROWN ACID IS NOT, SPECIFICALLY, TOO GOOD: It is finally becoming clear to some people around me that Barack Obama is the white capitalist establishment's black candidate. When are the rest of you going to recognize it?

The capitalist class believes that it has benefited greatly, especially in the long-term, from expanded imperialism and the destruction of the labor movement...

Whoaaa, dude!

Leftbots are really scary when they fall out of love. Just RTWT (fourth comment down, right before "Red Terror"'s marxist rantings).

Posted by Alois on

 

07/02/08:

THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: Racism remains today a source of cash. While there is some real remaining resentment, Black and White people in America do generally treat each other as humans. There is an enormous hunger for race to just be over. The Jeremiah Wrights of the world are on the other hand well-paid. His congregation just built him a two million dollar house. There are still bucks to be made from racism. Ask Al Sharpton.

In conclusion, the root of racism is cash and not difference of appearance. — Levi from Queens

Posted by Alois on

 

IT'S WEDNESDAY AGAIN, and Harumi Nemoto is here to remind you.

Have a happy!

Posted by Alois on

 

07/01/08:

EXTRA! UNCLEAN PUP O' DOOM TERRORIZES SCOTTISH MUZZIES: Ad Featuring Popular Police Pup Sparks Anger in Scottish Muslim Community

Dear Councillor Asif et al: We have considered your kind request that we remove images of the offensive young canid so as not to further inflame the sensitivities of your constituency. It seems that every time we turn around, you lot are threatening to put a bomb up our collective keister or separate us from our heads, yet you tremble in fear before a mere pupling. With that said, it is the recommendation of this body that you kindly piss off and repatriate yourselves to whatever third-world hellhole we inadvisably gave you refuge from.*

[UPDATE 07/02/08 PM: Kathy Shaidle has more. Money quote: "If your religion thinks dogs are unclean, your religion is fucking retarded."]

*In my dreams.

Posted by Alois on

 

June 2008


06/30/08:

WE'VE DONE A LOUSY JOB RAISING OUR KIDS: Yes, we protect them from Stranger Danger, "unfair" competition, and the ubiquitous bumps on the noggin kids used to sustain doing everything from bike riding to playing softball.

But in all the ways that count, it's pretty obvious that both the Boomers and Generation X are raising a generation of losers not remotely prepared to deal with real life.

Here's just a few examples that have jumped out at me in the past few days:

1) At Least One in Four American Teenaged Girls Has an STD. Take a second and let that one sink in.

If we couldn't teach 'em to "save it for marriage" (and, let's be honest, how many of us did that?), mightn't we have at least taught them a nominal sense of responsibility?

2) Kids Just Want to be Famous. This has been going on for a long time; I remember my son telling me at age seven (with disgust in his voice) that all the boys in his class expected to grow up to be "either video-game designers or professional athletes." Or let me put it another way: When's the last time you heard a kid tell you that they wanted to be a scientist or a doctor? Or even a respected novelist?

And, while we're on the topic:

3) The Death of Chops. I read an interview a couple of years ago with an accomplished guitarist (I think it was either Steve Vai or Allan Holdsworth) talking about the fact that no one is there to take their place. Paraphrasing: "Who's the last great guitarist? Prince? Eddie [Van Halen]? And it's not just guitar players, man. Name me a great drummer. A great bassist. There's nobody, man. Nobody. Everyone just wants to lip-synch and mimic dance steps. That's what they call art these days."

My wife pointed out to me recently the fact that recording "artists" don't tour anymore. That's because they can't reproduce their peculiar magic onstage, or even approximate it (like we used to save our quarters back in the past century to see David Gilmour and Pink Floyd or even Jerry Garcia and the Dead, wondering if they could actually play "Echoes" or "That's It for the Other One" onstage...)

And they could.

Kids don't play instruments anymore. It's "too hard!" they whine.

And again: Whose fault is that?

Posted by Alois on

 

TODAY'S MUST-READ: Former Colorado governor Richard Lamm's Plan to Destroy America.

And no, Governor Lamm hasn't turned into some kind of Adam Gadahn-style al Qaeda apologist.

And in any event, even if Lamm was sincerely interested in the destruction of his native land, his interest would be sadly postdated. As you will see, liberals everywhere have already implemented the entire plan, and we're going down without a shot being fired.

Posted by Alois on

 

IMAGE OF THE DAY: Ominous thunderstorm clouds over Delisle, Saskatchewan.

Image credit: Kate McMillan

Posted by Alois on

 

06/28/08:

BASE JUMPING II: SPLAT. Or how not  to make a midlife career change...

First off, I've got to say that I am quite grateful to our local concrete-pouring megalith for doing a hell of a lot more to improve my life than any number of white-collar corporate asstools that have forced me, in the past year and a half, to dress up in a suit and jump through hoops like a circus monkey for the sake of jobs that usually don't even exist. No, this was a real job, and it paid real money, and I was hired to do it even at the advanced age of 51 with nothing more to offer but a CDL and a year's worth of on-the-road experience.

Pouring concrete, unfortunately, is a young man's game.

At first I was overjoyed to be working full-time again, in a job with benefits and a future, hanging around guys (and even one girl) who didn't make you sorry that you'd showed up for work. And during my first couple of days of training, watching the other guys load up the mixers and pour concrete had a certain poetry to it. I suppose that, like listening to war stories from soldiers recently returned from combat or watching Anthony Bourdain eat pickled squid in some long-forgotten corner of southeast Asia, it's the poetry of reveling in the achievement of someone who, just maybe, is good at something you might not be able to do yourself.

Oh, I did pour some concrete, after a fashion. I sure drove that truck all over hell-and-gone and was reminded again of how much I enjoy driving trucks. The problem is that a concrete jockey is a concrete artisan first and foremost, and a truck driver only as a means to that end. And the concrete artisan thing was always a little difficult for me to wrap my mind around.

Any of you who have worked with concrete know what a "slump" is. I didn't when I started out, and other than the theory— which, like many theories, is simple enough on its face— I never really figured it out. Yeah, the concrete might look a little more wet or a little more dry, but it still looked like concrete to me. I certainly didn't see the impressionst painting that the slumpmeisters did, the veritable Rorschach test that told them, apparently out of the clear blue sky, "It's a five-and-a-half. We need to add eight gallons to bring it up to a six!"

Uh, okay. I could count out the eight gallons of water and kick the mixer into motion, but the stuff that came out when we reached the site didn't look any different to me than the stuff in the drum had. But the slump was all-important, and if you screwed it up (especially if the concrete was too wet) you ran the risk of having the contractor reject the whole load.

I had a simple question: "Why don't you just make sure it's not too wet and then let the contractors decide how much water to add?"

Answer: There's no time.

That was the other problem I couldn't get away from, and why I say that pouring concrete is a young man's game. As a concrete jockey, you're running from the minute you get to work in the morning (usually at five or even earlier) until the last job is poured at seven p.m. and you head back to the shop to wash down your truck. You eat while you're driving; that's your "down time," inasmuch as anyone can envision "down time" that consists of driving a vehicle that, loaded with product, weighs a hundred thousand pounds and doesn't exactly stop on a dime. Taking a leak? Yeah, right. Better hope that the construction site has a nearby port-o-can that you can visit in between pouring the load and washing down your truck, because otherwise you're just gonna have to hold it until... whenever. Like I said: A young man's game.

I've climbed this fucking ladder 75 times today, and my back is starting to hurt. Ever seen that ladder on the front of a cement mixer? You rush up there after getting loaded up to check your slump. You add some water and then you climb that little ladder again. Once if you're lucky, usually two or three times until everything looks right. You hose down your chutes (time to climb the ladder again! ) and then, once you're at the job site, you climb the ladder so you can shovel the last of the load into a concrete pump or, if it's a small job, you climb the ladder ten or fifteen times because the contractor will want wheelbarrow-sized loads of concrete that just about exactly fill the chute and it will take you ten or fifteen trips down to the cab to shoot out a little concrete and back up the ladder to shovel it out.

Then you go back to the plant, wash up your truck (up the ladder! ) and get in line for another load (up that ladder again, boy! ).

When I came home, I was dead. Maybe even deader than dead. And just six or seven hours later, I 'd have to get up and do it all over again.

And then it became obvious to me that I had to face reality: I was too old and tired to be a concrete-pourin' man. So I did something that I almost never do:

I quit.

Posted by Alois on

 

IMAGES OF THE DAY: A cat joins several dogs seeking shelter in a car from tornado damage in Greensburg, Kansas.

And, in case you were wondering, this menage aux animales worked out just fine.

Posted by Alois on

 

WHERE'S AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL? WHERE ARE THE HOLLYWOOD LIBERALS? You'd think they'd really get their panties in a bunch and would be tripping all over each other to comment on this outrage.

Not.

[My favorite part: The crowd erupted in cheers of "God is great!" and gunmen fired in the air in jubilation. The celebratory gunfire killed two bystanders and wounded six, local official Fazal Rabbi said.

Yup, folks, I think we should let these folks determine more of the policy in our public schools, don't you? But wait. I thought liberals don't like guns....?]

More to come later today in these pages, I promise you. Thrill to the tale of why I am no longer a concrete-mixin' man!

Posted by Alois on

 

06/24/08:

AND HERE'S ONE I OWE YA... Klaus und I were watching 24 last night (as we are wont to do on the weekends). Which, for some funny reason, put me in mind of Elisha Cuthbert.

Happy, er, Wednesday!

Posted by Alois on

 

06/22/08:

BASE JUMPING: First of all, sorry for the long hiatus. I will explain below.

My lovely wife (happy anniversary, JoAnnage!) and stepdaughter and I had a wonderful trip to the wilds of Minnesota... and of course, any trip to the wilds of Minnesota must start with a visit to Mall of America. Yes, we know it's not the biggest or baddest mall in the world anymore, but that doesn't matter. If you're in the mood for a fully-functional indoor carnival with bitchen rides (including a log chute), multiple raunchy t-shirt shops run by mysterious Pakistanis, world-class chocolates, a gourmet meal that costs about as much as the fare at Mickey D's, all washed down with the deadly gallon-jug drinks served up at Bubba Gump, well, you can't beat the MOA.

And as everyone knows, Alois is quite the cultural conoisseur, and would never think to undertake a journey without a stop-off at dinner theatre.* We saw Dubin and Warren's "42nd Street," and I think I can say with some degree of surety that the performance was every bit as good as anything we could have seen on Broadway (maybe not so amazing when one considers that most of the performers were Broadway veterans). The food, while perhaps not up to the standards of Wolfgang Puck, did not suck. (Yes, I apologize for the rhyme.)

Onwards to southwestern Minnesota, the very heart of flyover country. Hint: Jessica Lange's cottage is five hundred miles away at the other end of the state, among the piney lakes. Never mind the pines; trees are a rare commodity on the Coteau des Prairies, the high plains that bleed into South Dakota, riddled with veins of the distinctive red rock known as Sioux quartzite. Indians from all corners of the Plains have been coming here for many hundreds of years to mine a supercondensed form of the quartzite known as pipestone or catlinite, used (as the name obviously suggests) to form the bowls of the sacred pipes common to most Plains Indians religions. This stone is so scarce, and so revered, that even the most bitter enemies would forego hostilities at the quarries out of respect for this magnanimous gift the Great Spirit had bestowed upon all of his children.

In addition to the pipestone quarries, the excellent visitor center (where one can watch Indians craft the pipestone), and the ghostly prayer-flag tree on the open prairie north of the park, Pipestone National Monument is probably best known for the breathtaking Winnewissa Falls hidden in a little clutch of woodland along Pipestone Creek.

But the most unforgettable feature of this part of the world is still the incredible power of the land itself, that—even minus most of the bison that the Plains tribes relied upon for their sustenance—has a haunting aura that suggests both times long since past and suggestions of the future.

And if you're not into unforgettable land... there's still the unforgettable food (yes, we once planned a weekend getaway to Pipestone just to eat at Lange's Cafe).

TO BE CONTINUED!

*My wife is the theater-goer. Did you really think I was that cultured?

Posted by Alois on

 

06/16/08:

DAILY GAAAAAAZ-O-LEEEEEEN! AWARD: "Personally, I say the driving age should be raised to 21. But then who would make my Burrito Supremes? Nevermind." — Rachel Lucas

Posted by Alois on

 

TODAYZ SHOCKA: RACE HUSTLER IS ALSO FUNDS HUSTLER! Al Sharpton: Shameless shakedown artist.

Can you imagine how much fun we're going to have if the Obamessiah gets elected?

Can you imagine the man who perpetrated the Tawana Brawley hoax and fanned the flames of the Crown Heights riots having a direct pipeline to the reins of government power?

Get ready. You ain't seen nothin' yet.

Posted by Alois on

 

06/11/08:

TODAY'S HEAD-SCRATCHER FOR REAL SMART LIBERALS (since that's all liberals, right?):

Y'all used to have these super-clever bumper stickers and signs that said NO BLOOD FOR OIL!

I think everyone can agree that we've had plenty of blood. Unfortunately.

So, uh.... where's the oil?

Posted by Alois on

WEDNESDAY UND VAKATION: First, since it's Wednesday, this goes out to Klaus (in der Wilds auf Wisconsin):

And now for a Public Service Announcement: The I.C. and Sydney and I are embarking on a return trip to the Plainsland region of southwestern Minnesota (and hopefully we're leaving early enough this time that a Cat 5 hurricane won't devastate a great American city while we're away). This will be our first real vacation in over two years, due to the exigencies of unemployment, semi-employment, career changes, illness, and other symptoms of having a good old time in America.*

On the other hand, we just celebrated our second wedding anniversary and are still blissfully happy, so if my wife can stand up to that kind of stress, I'm thinking she can stand up to just about anything.

And the good news? I start a new full-time trucking gig on Monday.

Will report back when we return from the Center of the Earth.

*There must be some way I can blame this on George W. Bush

Posted by Alois on

 

06/09/08:

ASSCLOWN OF THE WEEK: That would be our good old fiend at the Name Your Treason, Paul Krugman:

And the de-racialization of U.S. politics has implications that go far beyond the possibility that we’re about to elect an African-American president. Without racial division, the conservative message—which has long dominated the political scene—loses most of its effectiveness...

If Ronald Reagan and other politicians succeeded, for a time, in convincing voters that government spending was bad, it was by suggesting that bureaucrats were taking away workers’ hard-earned money and giving it to you-know-who: the “strapping young buck” using food stamps to buy T-bone steaks, the welfare queen driving her Cadillac. Take away the racial element, and Americans like government spending just fine...

Let me add one more hypothesis: although everyone makes fun of political correctness, I’d argue that decades of pressure on public figures and the media have helped drive both overt and strongly implied racism out of our national discourse...

Racial division has lost much of its sting, but not all: you can be sure that we’ll be hearing a lot more about the Rev. Jeremiah Wright and all that.

Yeah. And ALL THAT.

It's pretty hard to understand how someone as ostensibly "educated" as Mr. Krugman could be so incredibly, indelibly stupid. Certainly there are migrant workers in Mississippi with eighth-grade educations who would not be so easily deluded.

Yes, the entire conservative movement (which gave the slaves their freedom while Democrats were still up to their ears in the slave trade) is about Fear Of Negroes.

And political correctness, that wonderful doctrine that is busily selling out our country to Islamic radicals and illegal aliens, is just alright.

Like Jesus.

Oh, sorry, I'm not allowed to say that anymore, thanks to people like Krugman.

Posted by Alois on

 

TERMINAL CASE OF THE DUMB-ASS: From Jeannie Harrison's perspective, the social lives of most teenagers tend to revolve around their cell phones— even when they are behind the wheel.

"People don't want to be inaccessible for even 15 minutes driving up the street," said Harrison, 19, a sophomore at Marshall University in Huntington, W.Va. "They're so used to being accessible all the time."

Maybe it's time for the Boomers (and some other Americans too) to take a long, hard look at their parenting skills. We seem to have raised kids who can't be cut off from their cell phones for even a few minutes while they are OPERATING A MOTOR VEHICLE.

Gee. Wonder where they got that idea?

Posted by Alois on

06/06/08:

CONGRATULATIONS TO DEB! Our illustrious co-blogger has given birth to the newest Debling, Catherine Elizabeth at 9 lbs 2 oz.

Break out the bubbly and raise a glass to Deb und Cate!

[UPDATE 06/10/08 PM: Check out Deb's new addition in all her glory!]

Posted by Alois on

TODAY I'M THANKFUL THAT... The Weather Pixie, that winsome little lass from Akureyri in the far reaches of Iceland, is back online after a two-week unexplained absence (see the bottom of our blog, where she's resided for a couple of years now).

And also, I got my payoff for a year of driving school buses this morning, the last day of school. One of the middle school girls actually returned to the bus to tell me, "You've always been my favorite bus driver." Then she RAN into school.

I may have some pretty eroded heartstrings, but that tugged at my heartstrings.

Posted by Alois on

LEWIS HITS A DOUBLE-HEADER: Allow Mr. Medlock to regale you with Five Things I Think and Finally, the Return of Real Men. Jawohl!

Posted by Alois on

06/04/08:

TODAY'S MUST-READS: Michael Totten goes to Serbia; Michael (my son) goes back to Louisiana.

Posted by Alois on

SUMMER'S ALMOST HERE, EVEN IF IT IS 56 DEGREES: And Kim Smith is here to remind us, from a rocky reach o' beach.

 

Happy Wednesday!

Posted by Alois on

WE NEED MORE PUPPIES! And that's an executive editorial decision. Jihadists hate puppies.

With that in mind, heeeeeeeeere's Monty.

Image credit: MSNBC

Posted by Alois on

 

06/01/08:

DAILY DHIMMIFICATION: The Dhimmi Carter Threat Level Advisory System.

  

[H/T: Denny]


Posted by Alois on

..........

Someone who does not know the difference between good and evil is worth nothing. — Miecyslaw Kasprzyk, Polish rescuer of Jews during the Holocaust,
New York Times, Jan. 30, 2005



Wichtiger Wortschwall:

The Rant auf Klaus*, Parts I II III

Free Tibet

Why Unions Suck

Ménage-à-Trois

Mother Church

Shut Up and Make the#*&$ Widget

Perry County