Monday, October 30, 2006

KENNY'S GONNA START WATCHING OUR BORDERS. GOLLY, THANKS KENNY

Just heard Hulshof's paid advertising. Kenny, I'm so pleased you're gonna clean up the immigration mess. Who's been in charge of the congress during your time there? What took so long for the light bulb to go on?

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Sunday, October 29, 2006

HIGHLIGHT REEL

On the road tonight, listening to car radio. Dialed into "The Best of Sean Hannity". Lasted one minute, forty-five seconds and consisted mostly of slurping sounds and Dick Morris saying "This little Piggy."

I hate it when baseball's over.

Saturday, October 28, 2006

WHAT TRUMPS WHAT IN ADAMS COUNTY?

Three factors:

INCUMBENCY

ROMAN CATHOLIC

"RED" COUNTY

In a low turnout election, I tend to think the order of importance is, in this order, Catholic, GOP, Incumbent. Doesn't mean any of them is outcome determinative. I guess this is sort of speaking the unspeakable, but there is no reason we can't discuss it here, right?

Friday, October 27, 2006

SPEAKING OF DUESTERHAUSES: FRIDAY FUNNY

No sooner do I write about the estimable Todd Duesterhaus than I see a crack-me-up funny letter to the editor from Paul Duesterhaus! Oh, Paul, please stop it! You're hurting me.

A great letter that both informs those who didn't already know and entertains anyone who would read the whole thing.

I told you this was a great family.

TODD DUESTERHAUS=A BLOW FOR SUNSHINE IN GOV'T

Not to say a bad word about any opponent, Todd Duesterhaus' decision to run for the County Board creates a wonderful opportunity for us taxpayers to have a little transparency in the way decisions are made in our County.

In addition to being an outstanding and talented young man from a stellar Quincy family, Todd is knowledgable about municipal finance and the importance of maintaining a physical plant. Most importantly, he believes the citizens should be able to watch their Gov't take place. The infrastructure to televise Co. Bd. meetings essentially already exists. We can already watch our School Board and Quincy City Council meetings on TV. Todd asks, reasonably, why not what is arguably the most important legislativ body in Adams County?

It's not often we get a chance to elect a crusader for representative government and a young person of star quality, both at once. Todd is that opportunity. A wise vote would be one punch for Todd and on to the voting machine. If the scanner tells you you've undervoted, tell the scanner to peel it and eat it!

Go, Todd.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

ADAMS COUNTY SHERIFF: PAST HUMAN BEHAVIOR IS OFTEN THE BEST PREDICTOR OF FUTURE HUMAN BEHAVIOR

Nall/McCoy administration--only supported Task Force @ 50%; no overhear equipment of its own; no K-9. McCoy, as Chief Deputy, had 17.5 years to fix that.

Fischer/Anderson administration--Fully Equipped, Full Support of Task Force (2 deputy/agents); created and found funding for a K-9 Unit. (Just added a fully trained and certified SRT).

And this election would be a difficult decision..........Exactly why? There are three principles of physics and philosophy that are inescable: You can't destroy matter; You are judged by your associations; and you can't simonize a turd.

Doctor, I get these terrible headaches........

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Wednesday, October 25, 2006

SPRINKLED IN AMONGST THE "SEXY" NEWS, RACIST ADS AND MCFLIGHTSUIT'S PRESS CONFERENCE

..........is a really heavy hitter piece of news. Classified material from Alamosa found in New Mexico drug bust. It may be a day or two but the blame will be flying. Scapegoats will be found, preferably scapegoats with ties to the Clinton administration.

Stay tuned.

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Tuesday, October 24, 2006

PRESIDENT MCFLIGHTSUIT IS NO LONGER GONNA SAY.......

"Stay the course!"

I was paying attention when the GOP was telling us the only alternative to "stay the course!" was "Cut and Run".

Ergo, I must conclude that Flightsuit has been converted to "cut and run".

For my part, I think it woulda been a cool idea to actually have a plan to rehab the country in place before we attacked it. What would have been the harm?

Monday, October 23, 2006

PSYOPS IN THE WORLD SERIES

Imagine the impact of something like this:

Starting pitcher puts a little Nu-skin (legal) on his hand and makes sure there's a little dirt stuck to it. Just as the game is starting, an executive of the home team tips a cameraman to the dark spot on the pitcher's hand. TV shows it. Predictably, members of both clubs are back in the warm ramp watching the game on TV. They bring the brown spot to the Manager's attention. But now the side is out. When the pitcher returns, there's nothing on his hand but the opposing manager is out talking about it. The visitors spend the next seven innings looking for evidence of illegal pitches and neglect to get any hits.

Contacted later, George Tenent states it's a "slam dunk" Rogers was using pine tar. Rumsfeld and Condi argue for an occupation of Detroit.

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Sunday, October 22, 2006

HUMBLE SENATE PREDICTIONS: YOU GET WHAT YOU PAY FOR

Two weeks out, here are my Senate Predictions. As you can see, this is a recipe for gridlock:

SEAT FAVORITE STATUS COMMENT

AZ/KYLE KYL NO CHNG PEDERSON
HAS A FUTURE

CA/FEINSTEIN FEINSTEIN NO CHNG

CONN/LIEBERMAN LIEBERMAN TAKEAWAY D to "I"

DELAWARE CARPER NO CHNG

FLA NELSON NO CHNG

HAWAII AKAKA NO CHNG

INDIANA LUGAR NO CHNG

MAINE SNOW NO CHNG

MD. CARDIN NO CHNG

MASS KENNEDY NO CHNG

MICH STABENOW NO CHNG SNEAKY
CLOSE

MINN KLOBUCHAR TAKEAWAY

MISS LOTT NO CHNG

MO. TALENT NO CHNG

MONTANA TESTER TAKEAWAY

NE B NELSON NO CHNG

NV ENSIGN NO CHNG CARTER
HAD $ BUT
NO
THEME

NJ MENENDEZ NO CHNG UGLY

NM BINGAMAN NO CHNG

NY CLINTON NO CHNG

ND CONRAD NO CHNG

OHIO BROWN TAKEAWAY GOP HAS
KISSED IT
OFF

PENN CASEY TAKEAWAY

RHODE ISLAND CHAFEE NO CHANGE UPSET
PICK

TENN FORD TAKEAWAY

TX HUTCHISON NO CHNG

UTAH HATCH NO CHNG

VERMONT SANDERS TAKEAWAY (D TO I)

VA. ALLEN NO CHNG CHOICE
BTWN 2
JERKS
WA CANTWELL NO CHNG

WV BYRD NO CHNG

WISC KOHL NO CHNG

WYOMING THOMAS CHNG

If this plays out the way I predict, there'll be 47 dems, three independents and 50 Repubs. The I's would caucus with the dems but the leadership seats would go to the GOP. Of course, Cheney would still break ties. GOP could get a takeaway in NJ or Mich. GOP could get a "hold" in Tenn. Dems could get an additional takeaway in Virginia but I think GOP will lock Allen up in a rubber room to prevent his making any more enemies or ethnic slurs.

Yes, I know. Didn't predict a takeaway in MO.

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Saturday, October 21, 2006

WE CAN'T STAND THE TRUTH!

Again, from our friends at Delancey Place

In today's excerpt, Daniel Gilbert speaks to our predisposition to select both friends and facts that reinforce the self-perceptions and opinions we already hold.

Gilbert is the Harvard College Professor of Psychology at Harvard University, and his work is characterized by extensive testing and research:"... Of course, other people ... are the richest source of information about the wisdom of our decisions, the extent of our abilities, and the effervescence of our personalities. Our tendency to expose ourselves to information that supports our favored conclusions is especially powerful when it comes to choosing the company we keep. ... [W]e spend countless hours carefully arranging our lives to ensure that we are surrounded by people who like us, and people who are like us. It isn't surprising then that when we turn to the folks we know for advice and opinions, they tend to confirm our favored conclusions--either because they share them or because they don't want to hurt our feelings by telling us otherwise.

Should people in our lives occasionally fail to tell us what we want to hear, we have some clever ways of helping them."For example, studies reveal that people have a penchant for asking questions that are subtly engineered to manipulate the answers they receive. A question such as 'Am I the best lover you've ever had?' is dangerous because it has only one answer that can make us truly happy, but a question such as 'What do you like best about my lovemaking?' is brilliant because it has only one answer that can truly make us miserable. Studies show that people intuitively lean toward asking the questions that are most likely to elicit the answers they want to hear. ... In short, we derive support for our preferred conclusions by listening to the words that we put in the mouths of people who have already been preselected for their willingness to say what we want to hear."

And it gets worse ... to be considered a great driver, lover or chef ... we simply need to park, kiss, and bake better than most other folks do. How do we know how well most other folks do? Why, we look around, of course--but in order to make sure that we see what we want to see, we look around selectively. For example, volunteers in one study took a test that ostensibly measured their social sensitivity and were told they had flubbed the majority of questions. When these volunteers were then given an opportunity to look over the test results of people who had done better or worse than they had, they ignored the tests of the people who had done better and instead spent their time looking over the tests of the people who had done worse. ..."

And if we can't find people who are doing more poorly than we are, we may go out and create them. Volunteers in one study took a test and were then given the opportunity to provide hints that would either help or hinder a friend's performance on the same test. Although volunteers helped their friends when the test was described as a game, they actively hindered their friends when the test was described as an important measure of intellectual ability. ... Once we've successfully sabotaged their performances and ensured their failure, they become the perfect standard for comparison."Daniel Gilbert, Stumbling on Happiness, Knopf, 2006, pp. 165-7.

Host's note: One of the most brilliant teachers I ever had at University said "Most of what passes for learning is just slightly rearranging our prejudices."

Host's note2: If you peel back the layers of this, it is a powerful argument in favor of electing diversity in our lives.

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Friday, October 20, 2006

DUPAGE

Hi Kiddies,

Coming at you today from lovely DuPage County. Other than Perhaps Lake and McHenry (and pieces of Will and Kane), this place has nothing in common with the rest of the State. It's packed and stacked. None of the traffic patterns really work. The infrastructure wasn't built for this many people and nobody ever looks happy. It's like a whole County has inflammed piles. We have more in common with Chicago City Dwellers than we do with these folks.

Tell ya what, though. I think I'm gonna buy an I-Pass. It'd just be cool to have one. That kind of reminds me. I didn't know what "Open Road Tolling" meant until late last year. Now I get it. It means the guy from downstate with no I-Pass gets inconvenienced.

Under Jim Edgar, the area of Dupage taken up by I-88 was dubbed the Illinois Research Corridor. I think that was supposed to be a Silicon Valley thing. What it really means is they're doing research on how to move all those stalled cars end to end on the Interstate someplace else.

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Thursday, October 19, 2006

HOUSEKEEPING AND ANONYMOUS POSTING

Well, kiddies, for better or for worse, I succumbed to the inevitable and I'm now in the Beta Version of Blogger. When this happened, I had to conform my password to my google member id. The short form of all this is that I have lost my ability to comment on some others' blogs as "UMRBlog"--the Beta ate my password.

So I've reinvented myself as UMRBlogII. That is not an imposter. It's me and, as I have done scrupulously since I started bloghosting, I never post anonymously on anyone's site.

Sorry for the change in procedure.

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Wednesday, October 18, 2006

FARM BUREAU PUCKER FACTOR

Don't pretend to understand Missouri politics but I see Bullet Behnen on television (honestly looking slightly less subhuman than Cauthorn the Police Interceptor) every 15 seconds and pounding on 'Good Gummint' candidate Wes Shoemyer. All of a sudden Shoemyer seems to be hitting back and standing up for himself.

While all this fun has been going on, the Farm Bureau has once again shown itself to be a lapdog for the Republican party, endorsing Behnen who only goes to farm to film obligatory gun scenes for his ads.

Let's close our eyes and imagine what happens if the Farm Bureau picks the wrong horse. You think Shoemyer makes nice with them or picks his own spots on farm and rural legislation? I think he's term limited anyway, he can probably do the whole time in office without them, once elected and the juggernaut Farm Bureau is odd man out. It's fun to think about anyway.

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Tuesday, October 17, 2006

ABOUT LAST NIGHT.......

Da Bears really didn't play very well for most of the game and one can draw a lot of conclusions about it. Mostly, I think, it leads one to conclude that the athletes in the NFL are uniformly capable of amazing things.

But there's another football/life lesson: Sometimes just determination and frenetic effort can produce a win. You can lose all the style points and still succeed, if you care enough and act on that caring.

It's good to see it work out that way this time.

ABC

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LOCAL POLITICS DOT COM--MISSOURI STATE REPRESENTATIVE RACE: BEAU KNOWS--BUT HE'S NOT TELLING

OK, I can't stand it anymore. Beau Hicks decided to challenge the incumbent. High Profile Race. Well Known Guy. Incumbent backed by area cult figure. All the earmarks of a Near-Duckworth experience. Except Beau has gone undercover. It could be he's trying to learn to say "Gummint" before he hits the trail.

So here's the deal, Beau. 300 words or less to our unnews cold line, abcforvictims@justice.com on why you should represent the folks of NEMO in Jeff City. I will post them, without comment for our vast NEMO readership to consider. If your opponent wants to rebut them (same rules), I'll post his rebuttal in the same post, without simultaneous comment.

The price is right. No charge for either of you. Get your message out. Highly sophisticated market research indicates that 100% of our readership votes.

This is an effort to achieve Good Gummint!

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Monday, October 16, 2006

LOOTIE FOR STATE REPRESENTATIVE, ILLINOIS 93rd District!

Our international editorial staff has pondered this local election and decided we must endorse Lootie for State Rep in the 93rd.

Lootie has a strong platform for recycling consumables and the Trike is a striking symbol of fossil fuel conservation. I also have it on good authority that Lootie's strong experience with natural disasters and infrastructure failures will lead to an appointment by Speaker Madigan to the Homeland Security/Disaster Response Committee and specifically the all-important "Midnight Requisition" subcommittee.

Please join the entire Upper Mississippi River Basin in supporting this creative and dynamic candidate whose story of dealing with his disability of being vertically challenged is so very inspiring.

Sunday, October 15, 2006

BALANCING TAXATION AND REPRESENTATION

This from the dangerous radicals at Delancey Place, with our thanks:

In today's encore excerpt--taxation. In 1789, the French had a far lighter tax burden than the English, but they were the ones who revolted because, as Baron Montesquieu brilliantly theorized, the ability to tax is constrained when a government is not representative.

The same was true in 1776, where American colonials had a far lighter tax burden than citizens of England, but had no representation. Those who feared world takeover by communism or totalitarian states in the twentieth century should have considered this--a non-representative government simply cannot generate sustained wealth:"Even before (1781), well-informed observers understood the conundrum of ancien regime finance.

Adam Smith was among them [writing that] '...the people of France, however, it is generally acknowledged, are much more oppressed by taxes than the people of Great Britain.'"This was an astute observation. Taxes may have been lower in France, but, perversely they aroused more opposition.

The roles of France and England had been reversed. In the seventeenth century, it was the Stuarts who had struggled in vain to conjure a modest income out of their recalcitrant subjects, and whose regime had been brought down by financial starvation. In the following century, the Bourbons suffered the same fate...The graph shows just how neatly the index of taxpayer pliability had been turned upside down: "Relative Taxation in France and England, Grams of Silver per capita:"1640: France 30 grams; England 14 grams"1789: France 75 grams; England 188 grams"Montesquieu's Limits of Absolutism: General rule: one can raise higher taxes in proportion to the liberty of the subjects: and one is forced to moderate them to the degree that servitude increases. This has always been, and will always remain so." James MacDonald, A Free Nation Deep in Debt, Farrar, Straus, 2003, pp. 253-5.

Holy Cheetos! I've never really thought about it that way.

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Saturday, October 14, 2006

IOWA: POLITICALLY HAPPENING

The "Real President" and John Edwards giving major addresses in the same state on the same day!

Iowa's happening.

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Friday, October 13, 2006

HARDBALL COLLEGE TOUR: WHEREFORE ART THOU?

Hardball College Tour is not scheduled to come to QU? Worse, because our lame cable service doesn't bring us MSNBC, we can't even watch the Tour at less deserving Univerities. Wish we weren't so electronically backward. Gives us a bad reputation. I'm dissapointed not to get to see which one of John McCain's multiple personalities will be on display.

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Thursday, October 12, 2006

MISSOURI: STATE SENATE

Missouri's NE Senate Race has been fun to watch. The Republican is from Central Casting, Gun Pictures, Tort "Reform", Nose Planted in Chamber's "position papers". But the Democrat has a Secret Weapon. He pronounces Government, "Gummint". How can a guy lose in NE Mo., when he says "Gummint"?

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Tuesday, October 10, 2006

A NAME FOR MORE THAN BATTLE FATIGUE

More from our friends at Delancey Place


"By 1916 the armies of Britain, France and Germany were being diminished not just by the numbers of men killed and wounded but by something so new to human experience that the English had to coin a name for it: shell shock. By the thousands and then the tens of thousands, soldiers on the Western Front were being turned into zombies and freaks without suffering physical injuries of any kind.

"The phenomenon appeared in 1914, and at first no one knew what to make of it. The medical services on both sides found themselves confronted with bizarre symptoms: men in a trancelike state, men shaking uncontrollably, men frozen in weird postures, or partly paralyzed, or (though unwounded) unable to see or hear or speak. By December British doctors were reporting that between three and four percent of the British Expeditionary Force's enlisted men and up to ten percent of its officers were displaying symptoms of this kind. Their German counterparts would record almost twelve thousand such cases in the first year of the war.

"The victims got little sympathy. Career officers were accustomed to separating soldiers into four groups: the healthy, the sick, the wounded, and the cowards. They were predisposed to put men with nervous and mental disorders into the last category, to order them back to duty, and to mete out harsh punishment to any who failed to obey. But the number of men who failed to obey became too big to be ignored or to be put in front of firing squads; it has been estimated that twenty four thousand had been sent home to Britain by 1916.

"...Gradually it became clear that ...the troops were cracking because they could not absorb what was happening to them, because they knew themselves to be utterly powerless (bravery had little survival value when one was on the receiving end of a bombardment), and because they had no confidence that the generals who had put them in danger knew what they were doing. Men whose courage was beyond challenge could and did break down if subjected to enough strain of this kind."

G.J. Meyer, A World Undone, Delacorte Press, 2006, pp. 339-342

Sunday, October 08, 2006

DUCKWORTH CURIOSITY.....HELP ME WITH THIS ONE, PLEASE

I know the Duckworth story and I know a lot of good democrats who find her everlastingly annoying..(One emailed me that he thought it was probably not in good taste to "Become Pope immediately after joining the Church). Still, she's our candidate and seems an admirable person, if not a real facile politician.

So I get all that.

Here's my question. Her TV refers to her as "Captain Duckworth" over a picture of her doing what appears to be testifying in congress wearing dark Oak Leaves (the insignia for a MAJOR. Why would her own campaign self identify her as a captain, if she was a major?

Saturday, October 07, 2006

WHAT DO ILLINOIS AND AUBURN HAVE IN COMMON?

Neither has to worry about playing in the Nat'l Championship game in January!


Whooooooooooooo!~Soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooie!~ Pig!

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Friday, October 06, 2006

DON'T LEAVE HOME WITHOUT IT!

Let's see. NBA player, Strip Club, History of going into stands as part of the Detroit Riot, Packing a 9 mm. Nothing criminal about any of it but does anybody think that combination can lead to anything good?

Thursday, October 05, 2006

NUSSLEHAID, KNUCKLEHAID PROPOSAL

Iowa has a proud history of moronic gubernatorial campaigns and Jim Nussle's is no exception. Nussle's TV features "an aggressive program to detain and deport illegal aliens".

Well, Jimmy, there are a couple of problems with that. First, nobody told you that immigration policy is a Federal function. States don't deport folks. The second problem is that no state is more dependent upon migrant workers for harvest help than Iowa. Ya suppose some of those migrant folks might be undocumented? Ya suppose that some of the large farming operations needing migrants might be "your" people, GOP large scale farmers?

Maybe ya oughta buff up that TV ad a little. Maybe you could come up with a new tag line "Nussle, your kind of guy--apathetic and clueless"

Tuesday, October 03, 2006

DEATH AS SPECTATOR SPORT--CONSIDERING THE IMPACT

Bud Wietholder has much family and extended family in this area. I am blessed to know some of them. Please, as we view this bloodsport and report on it, could we keep in mind that real people are being really hurt as this thing is examined under a microscope. Yes, the public has a right to know but being mindful of the need for space and privacy to grieve for these innocent, remaining additional victims would be an act of Christian charity.

Please.

TOMMIE HARRIS: MODERN AMERICAN PHILOSOPHER

Many years ago, a writer asked Ben Hogan, "What is the most important shot in golf". Without hesitation, Hogan answered," the most important shot in golf is the next shot!"

Bears star Tommie Harris, When asked about the Bears' whomp of the Seahawks as a "Statement" game, Harris allowed as how the Bears didn't place any unusual importance on this game because it was on National TV or because it was against a Super Bowl team. It was just as important as any other game simply because it was the "next" game.

I believe, in a bit of irony, Bantam Ben has been reincarnated as a talented huge, black man. At least, Harris has latched onto a way to stay even at the highest level of competition!

Monday, October 02, 2006

REMOVE THE BENIGN TISSUE BUT BE SURE TO LEAVE THE CANCER: CUBS' PERSONNEL MOVES

The Chicago Cubs routinely have pretty good staffing in the minor leagues, particularly in pitching talent. Normally, an abundance in the minors can be translated, by either trade or player development, into Major League talent. For three years, the Cubs have frittered away the minor league talent (usually to the Marlins) without it cashing in as Major league talent. Who's responsibility is that? Oh, yeah, that would be the General Manager. So what do the Cubs do with their management team? Sure, they fire the President (whose job seemed to be sucking up to the commissioner) and they fire the manager (admittedly, not the answer to anybody's prayers but certainly not the problem.), LEAVING THE FREAKING GENERAL MANAGER!

Great Job, everybody gets fired except the guy responsible for the shortage. Now they'll just blame it on day baseball!

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Sunday, October 01, 2006

POWELL'S EGO BLINDNESS: GEE, COLIN, YA THINK THESE GUYS MIGHT USE YOU AND DISCARD YOU?

Ego is a horrible filter through which to view the world.

When they told Colin Powell he was the smartest, most necessary part of the team (back in '00) he honestly believed they saw his merit. Then they used him to hold up the little vial at the UN. Next they suggested that Iraq war was fought under the "Powell Doctrine" (nothing could be further from the truth). Finally, as we now know from Powell, Card and Woodward, they tossed him aside like a used Kleenex.

If you'll pardon the biblical paraphrase, one doesn't lay down with neocolonialists without a price.

Colin, you egocentric fool. These people didn't want your talents. They just wanted to trade on your reputation, which has been soiled in the process.