An Answer: The Matter with Kansas Can Be Understood at Woolworth's

This statement is worth considering...:

"Perhaps one day the critics of Middle America will begin to recognize the humanity they share with people they so quickly label as culturally backwards. Perhaps one day they might even begin to listen to them, and to learn from them, the way I did so many years ago, while eavesdropping on the waitresses at Woolworth's."

...but unlikely to be thought on either coast. That's okay, we'll be just fine here in the ol' midwest.

ABC News: Bush Expected to Name High Court Nominee

Really? No kidding? I thought he wanted to leave it open for the next President

.ABC News headline

A Wake Up Call?

What Color Is Your Collar?:

"We are in a global race for IQ points. Not useless Mensa meeting points but applied IQ points. Brains put to work. Those countries that best harness IQ will prosper most. The U.S. produces about half the annual patent filings in the world. That's an outstanding number. But new ideas are not enough if we do not have a motivated, educated work force to exploit them. Despite improved high-school graduation rates, our kids are the Jamaican bobsled team of education, to judge by international test scores. They lose to the Slovenians. If we don't buck up our schools, the next generation could end up with white collars and pink slips."

"Whose Fault Was It?"

This story has been making the rounds and rightly so. It talks to the left, whose fascination with examining what's wrong with everything, is unparalleled:

"Years passed. I'd sit around with friends at dinner talking about How We Got Here and Whose Fault Was It? Was it Nader's fault? Or Gore's? Or Scalia's? Even Monica got onto the list, because after all, she delivered the pizza, and that pizza was truly the beginning of the end. Most of my friends had a hard time narrowing it down to a choice, but not me: only one person was at fault, and it was Bill. I drew a straight line from that pizza to the war. The way I saw it, if Bill had behaved, Al would have been elected, and thousands and thousands of people would be alive today who are instead dead"

I can imagine these dinners. Everyone agreeing how bad things are. Discussing at great length the demise of the US in the eyes of the world. How troubling it is to be an American these days. The desperation of being lied to. And the focus of all this angst: George Bush (not really Bill Clinton).

Compare this piece with the previous post from Peggy Noonan. In this piece, by Nora Ephron, there is no optimism, no sense of history, no sense of vision. Just more of the same. Complaints and finger pointing. Find SOMEONE to blame!

This reveals the disconnect between the right and the left, conservatives and liberals. Liberals live in the moment. Look to others for validation. Worry more about how things look, than what works.

This disconnect will always exist. In fact, one could argue it must exist. Like good and evil, without one, the other has no relevance. The key is how each side accepts that the other exists. Today, many on the left would prefer that those on the right would all, fall off the face of the earth. And that's putting it kindly.

The State We Are In

Peggy Noonan has a great op-ed piece that eloquently describes how many Americans feel right now:

"Governments always start out saying they're going to help, and always wind up pushing you around. They cannot help it. They say they want to help us live healthily and they mean it, but it ends with a guy in Queens getting arrested for trying to have a Marlboro Light with his Bud at the neighborhood bar. We're hauling the parents of obese children into court. The government has increasing authority over our health, and these children are not healthy. Smokers, the fat, drinkers of more than two drinks per night, insane swimmers in high seas . . .

We are losing the balance between the rights of the individual and the needs and demands of the state. Again, this is not new. It's a long slide that's been going on for a long time. But Katrina and Rita seemed to make the slide deeper."

Noonan offers no quick fixes or even long-term solutions. She just accurately (in my opinion) describes our national culture at this time in our country's history. Is this where we really want to be?

Mass grave found in Afghanistan

Aljazeera.Net - Mass grave found in Afghanistan:

"A mass grave discovered in eastern Afghanistan is thought to contain the bodies of more than 500 soldiers of the communist government that was toppled in 1992, officials said."

"Similar mass graves have been found in the minority Hazara-dominated central province of Bamiyan. Taliban forces were blamed for those killings."

I'm sure that last sentence is a mis-print. The blame clearly must fall on the United States and George Bush of course! We're the ONLY evil in this world!

UPDATE: The Aljazeera link above doesn't work anymore so try this one for the full story - same feed.

Kudos: Feingold does the right thing

I'm not a huge fan of "my" Senator, but he does do the right thing every now and then. This is the "right thing" not because he's voting for Roberts, but because he's voting his conscience.
Money quote:

"'I think the idea of Democratic 'unity' on appointments like this in general is not the right approach. . . . Senators should vote their own conscience,' Feingold said."

The "Law of Unintended Consequences" Strikes Again!

Bugs!:

"The multicolored Asian ladybeetle was discovered in Wisconsin in 1994. It got here after working its way west and north from the southeast. The bugs were introduced to the United States in 1916 as a biological control for pecan aphids."

Having grown up in Oshkosh, WI on beautiful Lake Winnebago, I learned to live with another "unintended consequence" - the lake fly! Meant to feed the fish - especially sturgeon - in the early 20th century, a professor at the university introduced these USELESS insects to the lake in 'small' amounts. Now they turn homes black during the two separate, week-long invasions!

DeLay - Just go away

I think this is pretty accurate:

"'This indictment is nothing more than prosecutorial retribution by a partisan Democrat,' Madden said, citing prosecutor Ronnie Earle, a Democrat."

But, for me, Tom Delay doesn't do much. In fact, he and a few others are one reason I am hesitant to call myself a Republican. Delay and his ilk - on both sides of the aisle - are little more than power-hungry politicians looking to move a personal agenda, rather than what's in the best interests of the country.

The REAL cause for high gas prices

The WSJ has it right:

"In 1981, there were 325 refineries in the U.S. with a capacity of 18.6 million barrels per day. Today, there are 148, with a capacity of about 17 million barrels -- though U.S. demand for gasoline has increased more than 20%. From 1993 to 2002, the average return on investment in the refining industry was 5.5%, or less than half the S&P industrials average of 12.7%."

But we're not listening.

As a colleague of mine reminds us: "We didn't move out of the Stone Age, because we ran out of stones. We developed something better to replace them!"

This, too, will happen with fossil fuels. We have plenty of fossil fuels - oil, natural gas, coal, etc - and they will still be around (like stones) when we move on to "something better". Scaring people with unfounded science (global warming) and predictions of gloom (running out of oil in 30 years) benefits the few, more than the masses.

In the meantime, let the market work and we'll all be fine.