Unfortunate Synchronicity

As ABC wrappped up coverage of the Ford funeral ceremony at the Capitol last night Jack Ford led his mother from the rotunda. Coverage faded to black and the network brought up a slide to signal the return of the regularly scheduled programming..."Ugly Betty."

Someone needs to be transferred to another set of duties. Continuity and Traffic seems to be too much of a challenge for them.

Q2 '06 -The Linky Love Goes On

Continuing to look back at some of the stories we all blogged about in 2006.

April

Frank Lasee threatened to "Bring the Love." Steve at Grandpa John's was just about the only one who noticed.

TPA went down in flames. Teeth-gnashers rose from the ashes to post comments at Jenna's.

We saw the first "Batman" moment in the AG race. This guy went on to be elected.

The City Council disorganized then reorganized. Most everybody had the story.

United 93 came out to rave reviews. It's showing up now on a lot of 'Year's Best' lists.

May

We got our first look at The Brawler.

Paul Bucher wanted to throw money at the problem.

Nathan got all "Old Timey" about immigration reform.

Flyin' Jim got his priorities in order.

Tommy said, "If I run, I win." MJM said, "Not so much."

June

Flag burning was still an issue even though it seldom happens for real.

Zelig's got nothing on Aaron.

JB rolled out the Batman Bus. It could traverse any terrain except a cranberry bog. DY snickered behind his hand.

Rick Santorum said he had finally found the WMD. Now he has time to look at his leisure.

Mark Green showed that he doesn't understand how businesses make their choices.

A Look Back Q1 '06

Let's look back at the stories we blogged about in 2006. We'll start with the first quarter of the year.


January

Aaron looked at the postage increase.
The Recess Supervisor looked at the first Whiner Of The Year candidate.
Congress voted. Alito floated. Wiggie gloated.
Sadie Says went dark.
Concealed Carry went down. I gloated.


February

Fraley went on about felons at school.
Dean told us that Ann Nischke wanted to downsize the County Board.
The President got some definition in his life.
Wendy posted a love story of sorts.
Tommy started waffling early this year. Bill told us about it.


March

Scooter got sentenced. Paul deconstructed the event.
Evansville made it into USA Today and the Observer was there. He had my opening remarks to the forum as well.
Scott Walker quit the race and left Mark Green alone. Belle covered the embargoed story.
There was a public hearing in Madison that wasn't public. Mark told us why.
Paul Bucher made another misstep on the road to private practice.

R.I.H.

Of course, the world is a better place with one fewer tyrant on it. Does this show trial and fair-hanging make Iraq safer? Will it now be easier to win the hearts and minds of the Arab world? Do you feel safer this morning?

When is the reckoning for those who propped up Saddam when they needed him? Will he head straight to Hell or hold the boat for those who come behind?

The Horror

Josh points us to a troubling post. Be afraid.

Celine Dion covers AC-DC, You Shook Me All Night Long.

Sincerely

Merry Christmas from my family to yours.

Decorations and Diversions

There is a house on my way home that is decorated with a dozen 6-foot lollypops that are lit in the evening. It's a cute and original display in a city full of badly strung icicle lights.

I'm wondering, though. Is there money in growing lollypops? Can I get set-aside money if I file to not grow lollypops? If so, how many acres of lollypops should I not grow?

I'm already not growing 3 rows of soybeans for the new crushing plant. Can I not grow soybeans and lollypops together?

And, what about Jerusalem artichokes? Is anybody still not growing them or have they all changed over to not growing sugar beets?

Amaze Your Friends

Pick any four names. Type them separated by commas. Find out which is least significant in the eyes of the Press.

Try this list.
Tommy Thompson, Rudy Giuliani, John McCain, Bill Frist

The New Face Of The NBA

RIP, Joe Bash

Peter Boyle is dead at age 71.

I never knew until today that John Lennon was best man at his wedding.

Second Annual Light Show

Visit UglyChristmasLights.com for the rest. I'm speechless.

Government By "Neener, Neener"

The "Hate Wisconsin First" crowd has been given the chair of the Assembly Colleges and Universities Committee.

Owen thinks it's peachy. Dave Diamond is appalled.

Steve Nass sticks out his tongue at the grown-ups in the room. It looks as if he's been picked to carry on the John Gard infantile style of governance.

Well, That Was Quick

From the AP

Turnover, NBA. The league will scrap its new microfiber composite ball and
bring back the old leather one beginning Jan. 1.
The NBA sent a memo to its teams Monday, telling them that the change would
be made for the remainder of the 2006-07 season. In the memo, NBA president Joel
Litvin said that Spalding had 450 new leather balls on hand for use.

So, it took about 4 months to see the need, analyze the consequences and make the change. Any idea why it took 6 years to get rid of Rumsfeld?

File Under: USEFUL

My Holiday Household Hint.

Use Soft Scrub to get that pesky pine sap off your hands.

List Of Weapons That Don't Exist, But Should

From Laser Guided Polar Bears to Deadly Assault Kittens, the Uncyclopedia has them all.

Quick Hits

It's probably not my least favorite sentence but it's right there on the list. "Be careful with that bag. Your eggs are on the bottom."

Do you suppose that there's any truth to the rumor that GWB is pushing for a moon base by 2024 as a way to replace Guantanamo?

The people of Louisiana have shown that Democrats can make choices every bit as poorly as Republicans can.

Is anybody else concerned that Brian Christianson, he of the small government Fulton Township takeover, he of the Koshkonong Lake District debacle is now the voice of the land swap deal? Should the County trade 367 acres for 465 acres without some sort of guarantees that the promises of the developers will come true? Are there just too many questions to be answered by Thursday's board meeting? I think so.

Apparently, He Needed Killin'

From St Louis Today.

St. Louis police say a woman shot her husband, who was about 70 years old, four
to five times in the chest after he tried giving her a warm can of Stag beer.

Perhaps she wanted a Bud.

Do You Like Venn Diagrams?

Do you want to see how the Universe works explained on index cards?

Check out Indexed, the newest addition to the blogroll.

It's A Carnival. Know What I Mean?

There are several new contribuors to the Carnival Of The Badger this week. When will you run off and join?

See Nick to find out how.

New Carols

You've got to admit that the world is ready for a new Christmas Carol. Bob Hope gave us Silver Bells in The Lemon Drop Kid and that may have been the last fully new "traditional" carol.

Cartoonist Joe Martin of Lake Geneva gives us his nomination for a new holiday song in this youtube animation.

Enjoy.

Work Week Is A Quality Of Life Issue

Republicans are upset that the new House schedule for January doubles the amount of time they are expected to be in Washington.

"Keeping us up here eats away at families," said Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), who
typically flies home on Thursdays and returns to Washington on Tuesdays.
"Marriages suffer. The Democrats could care less about families -- that's what
this says."

How dare they ask for a four and a half day workweek?

To be fair, Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-Calif.), who had intended to retire this year, only to be persuaded to run again, wondered whether the new schedule was more than symbolic.

"If we're doing something truly productive, that's one thing," he said. "If it's
smoke-and-mirrors hoopla, that's another."

It's time to get something accomplished.

The Explanation We've Been Waiting For

Republican Senator John Sununu was speaking to a group of Economic development leaders in Concord, NH last week and had some words of advice for them.

"This may be the most bizarre recommendation, but I am sincere," Sununu
said. "I'm not saying it's not an issue or it's not important, but
proportionally speaking, stop complaining about health care."

[snip]
Health care "is so darn expensive," he said, "because it's worth it."

Isn't it refreshing to see a Republican willing to tell business leaders to stop complaining and take care of the big picture?

38-10

Perhaps now you understand why I haven't been beating a drum for Charter to add the NFL Channel.

Pete Rozelle has his wish. The entire league sucks. But they all suck at the same level.

Housekeeping

It's been a while since we did any cleanup around the whole Happy Circumstance. A mess-o-candidate-sites fell off the blogroll after 11/7. Today a couple of defunct or nearly inactive sites went away.

I've not seen many sites that I'd like to add lately but Jay pointed out one that I think we'll all find useful. The WisOpinion Political Blog Search Engine is up and running. It allows you to search all of the blogs listed on the WO site, active or not.

Check it out. The Link is right over there.

The List Of Things That Ain't Right #181

Thundersnow

Grousing

The whole sick-leave accrual business is what you call a tempest in a teapot. Those who are spending the most time complaining about jobs with good benefits are the same folks who say that we should be working harder to attract jobs with good benefits.

Tearing people down doesn't build a strong workforce. It's time to start working to get benefits for all workers.

The Recess Supervisor calls it jealousy. I call it short-sightedness.