The simple pleasures

glumbert - Skeet shooting has been replaced

UPDATE: Looks like a case of Link Rot. Sorry 'bout that.

Go, Maurice Sendak!

Imagine, a chilrens' book author having the temerity today to tell parents to "Go to Hell!"

The book is 'too scary' for the poor things?

"I would tell them to go to hell," Sendak said. And if children can't handle the story, they should "go home," he added. "Or wet your pants. Do whatever you like.

Go for it, Maurice!

Sendak also recalled a fight he had with his publisher about Where the Wild Things Are, with the safety-conscious publisher keen to change the word "hot" to "warm" at the end of the book, when Max returns from his reign as king over the monsters to find his dinner "was still hot".

Allison Flood has more in the Guardian.

Tenting in the Jungle Primeval

As the tropic sun gently rose over the eastern hills and the shamas called to their mates, I rose cautiously from my pallet, crept silently to the fire and made a pot of coffee for myself.

Later, as the sun slowly passed it's zenith I set up our new abode under a jungle giant, surrounded by a small herd of pachydermi ceramicus aieaensis and watched silently from afar by a pair of felis domesticus.

As the soft-scented breeze wafted through the jungle, threatening to snap the frame and tear the tie down cords from their gracile mounts, I swiftly captured the scene in all it's primitive glory, then, lest darkness fall well after that of our new Home, I disassembled the shelter, rolled it up, and stored it with thoughts of replacing the cords, the stakes, and simulating a floor with a big blue tarp.

 

Implications of the Limaugh Quote Hoax

Shannon Love has some thoughts.

Only someone seriously immersed in a deep fantasy about Limbaugh’s beliefs would swallow such quotes without checking them....

They fell for the hoax because their fantasy about the evil of non-leftists tells them that most non-leftists think this way....

So, we come back to the main question: What methods could these deluded leftists justify using against the rest of us if they really believe we hold such beliefs and values as are inherent in the fake quotes?...

This isn’t about Limbaugh. They clearly view Limbaugh as just the most visible manifestation of tens of millions of Americans pining for the good old days of slavery. Make no mistake. They aren’t just targeting Limbaugh as someone so evil that they can justify any extremity in fighting him.

They are targeting the rest of us as well.

Well, yeah.

ACORN: The Philadelphia Story

More here.

Donald Sensing re: Fox News isn't a News Organization

The Chicago political machine continues to play by the Saul Alinski playbook.

Is the rest of the news media, heretofore for practical purposes a part of the Democratic Party, willing to play the game?

I have long thought that there are some games which you lose simply by your decision to play.

That's KMart's story, and they are...

...sticking to it.

In prepping for a planned overnite to Malaekahana Beach Park in the near future, today I checked the websites of several local big boxes for a cheapo tent with screen sides.

KMart had a couple online with attractive sales prices, but that was online. I called their Salt Lake store and asked if they had any Northwest Territory One Touch Screen House Tents in stock.

"Is that in Electronics?" I was asked.

"No, I think that would be in Outdoors."

"Oh. OK. I'll check." Soon she came back on the phone to chirpily relate that "Yes, we do have them. But we're out of them."

Next try: KMart-Nimitz. "Do you have any Northwest Territory One Touch Screen House Tents in stock?"

"I think that would be in Electronics."

"No, it's a tent. I think that would probably be in Outdoors." Didn't matter: they were out of them as well. Unless, of course, they really were keeping their tents in Electronics.

Anyway, I had one more try, the Waipahu KMart in Waikele Shopping Center.

"Do you have any Northwest Territory One Touch Screen House Tents in stock?"

This time, the clerk was quite definite. See: that's what good training does for you. You KNOW where the merch is stashed. She ever so cheerily informed me that "That is in Electronics!"

Eventually I got a clerk in Outdoors who informed me that yes indeed, they did have one, and that the price had been dropped to $29.99. I asked if they could put one on hold and was told not to bother: "We have a LOT of them." OK.

So I leaped into Old Nellie Belle and motored out to Waikele where I found that indeed they do have a lot of the Northwest Territory One Touch Screen House Tents 10 X 10 in stock. Something over 50 of them by my rough count. They are in Outdoors. They're in Automotive as well. They are darn near everywhere, but I didn't see any in Electronics.

We are now the proud possessors of a second home*, portable variety. For camping and post-hurricane shelter.


* Yes, I know this claims a different size. And the color is different. So is the structure. And the Model number. Go figure. Maybe those are available in Electronics. It's a big tent with screens, for $29.99 Enough already.

I guess it pays to be gay

And to renounce the mob, of course.

Mormando faced up to 17 years in prison but was sentenced to time served, even though he hadn't served any prison time, the Daily News said.

More Mao, All The Time

Step right up. Getcher Little Red Book! While they're hot!

Yes, it is.

Steve Huntley at the Chicago Sun-Times appears to have some reservations about the One:

Remember how liberals roared in outrage at any hint of their patriotism being questioned for criticizing the Iraq War? Well, it's the left that doesn't shy from attacking the patriotism of those it dislikes. Recall the repulsive Moveon.org "General Betray-us" ad against Iraq commander Gen. David Petraeus.* Recent opposition to Chicago's Olympic bid was cast as a sign of a lack of patriotism among Obama critics....

The White House trying to dictate who's a news organization. Democrats out to gut a business group. Obama media allies damning Americans as racist, unpatriotic and treasonous. Is this the America Obama promised when he campaigned to end the cynical and divisive politics of the past?

More here. Just what should we have expected when we elected the most successful politician in the history of the Chicago political machine to the Presidency? Pretty much what we got: a smoother version of the senior Mayor Richard Dailey.

*Which was published before he even testified.