When multiple ThunderJournalists team up to destroy a Nick Coleman column!
You knew he'd have to chime in, didn't you?
My favorite bit?
For half a dozen years, the motto of state government and particularly that of Gov. Tim Pawlenty has been No New taxes. It's been popular with a lot of voters and it has mostly prevailed. So much so that Pawlenty vetoed a 5-cent gas tax increase - the first in 20 years - last spring and millions were lost that might have gone to road repair. And yes, it would have fallen even if the gas tax had gone through, because we are years behind a dangerous curve when it comes to the replacement of infrastructure that everyone but wingnuts in coonskin caps agree is one of the basic duties of government.
Got that? Gov. Pawlenty. Wingnuts in coonskin caps. WINGNUTS! Could he be any more blatantly vile? And, of course, he follows that paragraph with:
I'm not just pointing fingers at Pawlenty. The outrage here is not partisan. It is general.
Uh. . . huh. You just keep telling yourself that, Nick.
Wow.
Just. . . Wow.
I've traversed that bridge I don't know how many times. Crazy.
Prayers out to the injured and families of the dead.
James Lileks rocks the Internet with double barrels of truth:
Last night I was a mediator in the great War of the Karaoke Clan. We went back last night to the Carousel, and found for the third straight night – the same three kids caterwauling songs they had no idea how to sing. One of the kids was doing some sort of popping-and-locking dance which looked cute the first day, but after three nights you’re sick of the little exhibitionist. I should note that it was 23:30, and it was a bar, so the idea that the place shouldn’t become the exclusive domain of three boys who could not sing and spent the previous two nights proving that fact loudly wasn’t exactly high-handed. Or was it? After they sang some 60s song – and by sing I mean they shouted tuneness syllables into the microphone – one of our party told them they should sing something they knew, because they sounded horrible.
Wait a few minutes . . . wait . . . ah, here comes the overprotective grandmother, furious.
How dare you , she hissed. How dare you . She sailed off, followed by tall-blonde mom, who really lit into the critic for having crushed the boys’ spirit. I wanted to stand up and say well, mission accomplished, ma’am, because those little presumptuous brats of yours needed their spirits crushed. Here we thought they were running wild without parents who could take them aside and explain that the rest of the world did not find their artless yawps to be the ne plus ultra of entertainment, but it turns out they were doing so under the watchful eye of two generations of enabling women, eh? Well, at some point they’ll be free of you, as sure as the ship slips its moorings, and they’ll be out in the world amongst professional practicised soul-crushers, and they might remember this moment and conclude that no amount of mugging to “YMCA” – a song about anonymous sex, incidentally – is going to endear them to the world.
I'm currently wearing a pair of sandals I've owned since 1999. You'd be surprised how much stink can embed itself into eight-year-old sandals. A little bit of fresh foot sweat really activates that old bacteria and fungus, apparently.
Melissa and I are planning a Yellowstone vacation for late August, by which I mean she's making all the plans and I grunt my approval or disapproval of said plans.
Mt. Rushmore? *approving grunt* Montana's largest doiley factory? *disapproving grunt*
The most debate, currently, surrounds the decision as to which vehicle we should take.
On the one hand, there's Mel's VW Jetta. Pros? Good gas mileage, better storage and low total miles. Cons? The thing squeaks and we don't know why, or how to stop it, and neither did the mechanics in the shop. Also, no cruise control.
On the other hand, there's my '96 Cadillac Eldorado. Pros? Comfortable as hell. Cruise control. Seats that recline to the point of being beds. Cons? Over 110,000 miles on the beast. Any breakdowns on the trip would cost a ton, if they could even be fixed at all.
This is going to be a most interesting vacation. . .
