An interesting column by John Fund about the flat tax:

High Taxes Wither Away -
Former communist countries lead the way in abandoning progressivity

Envy and the lust for the political control that complicated tax regimes can provide are powerful motivations to keep progressive tax systems in place. Karl Marx in 'The Communist Manifesto' was among the first to call for 'a heavy progressive or graduated income tax' at a time when a flat rate was the norm in advanced countries. He listed it as second in the list of priorities for a new society based on the class struggle.

It is therefore ironic that every country that has adopted the flat tax is a former communist nation--except Hong Kong, the modern originator of the concept, which has seen its new communist rulers retain the flat tax as a centerpiece of its economic policies.

Of course, that's fine for those countries that haven't spent centuries devising an incredibly complex and devious tax code, but for us in the U.S., well, just imagine what throwing all those accountants and tax lawyers out of work would do to our economy.

Steve

I can't help but wonder about people's perceptions in other historic times. In our time we can look back in awe at the great events that occurred, the main participants, and the extent to which they changed human culture and history. But did those who were living at the time of the 'big events' have any idea of the greatness in which they were involved? Or did it seem to be only slightly out of the parameters of ordinary life? Most often, these changes occurred over an extended period of time with vast controversy, hardship, endurance, and sacrifice. I suspect that most of the participants did not entertain visions of grandeur, but simply thought that they were doing the 'right' thing according to the principles that informed their lives. These ideas upon which they 'walked the walk' at the proper time produced changes that we can admire and be inspired by in our day.

I also wonder whether we are living in one of those times. With the elections in Afganistan and Iraq, and the movements toward changes in other parts of the Middle East, such as Lebanon and Egypt, there is a good possibility that future generations will look at our times and judge them as unbelievably awesome. They may envy us for living in such exciting times of change toward freedom for so many. Ironically, to us living it, these 'exciting times' are filled with the mundane-- shovelling snow, paying bills, and teenage zits. Nonetheless, we would be wise to live our daily lives with an eye to perceiving and promoting these remarkable changes.

It is said by some that we cannot export democracy and freedom to cultures such as those in the Middle East. At other points in history I might agree, but today the world is much 'smaller'. The ideas that espouse freedom are no longer locked out of even the most closed areas. They are no longer unknown or even rare in areas like China or Iran. This was illustrated most poignantly by friends that visited Mongolia. They pointed out that many aspects of American culture are familiar to the Mongolians, from pop musical groups and products, to ideas of depth.

Of course there will be violent opposition. There always has been to changes like these, but it is much like a woman giving birth. It is most often with turmoil, pain, and great stress, but when that child is born, there is great happiness. And even that is followed by a couple of decades of sacrifice and heartache mingling with the blessing and joy.

I am appreciating that dopey cowboy from Crawford more and more.

Michael Moore (and much of Hollywood), John Kerry, Ted Kennedy, Howard Dean, and Ward Churchill (just to name a few)-- the dandruff shed from heady times.

Steve

Here's an interesting article by a 9/11 Republican from San Francisco.

(HT: The Discerning Texan) (No, I don't know where he stands regarding 'The Republic of Texas'!)

Steve

In disciplined analysis of the 2008 election campaign, I have determined that the most likely Democratic presidential candidate will be Ward Churchill. He personifies all that embodies the liberal base of the party as well as that which they esteem so very highly. He courageously speaks what the others keep where their testicles/ovaries used to be. He will soundly thrash those 'Little Eichmanns', the conservatives.

I also expect this is part of the reason why Grandpa John hasn't been posting or commenting for some time. He has been too busy declaring himself a Native American Indian, copying art, looking for his lost Master's thesis, and trying to start and head up a Liberal American Studies program at the UW.

Steve

Political Nerd Alert! (AKA- Lance Alert)

Lance, you may be interested in Michael Barone's assessment of the 2004 election. (That is, if you haven't already memorized it!) He doesn't even call Bush voters stupid.

And just what do you have to say for yourself, Steve?

WOAI: SAN ANTONIO//NEWS:

"The separatist Republic of Texas group, which largely dissolved after an abortive uprising in the Davis Mountains left several of its leaders dead or in prison in 1997, has reformed, and is again pushing its message that Texas should be a free and independent nation, 1200 WOAI news reported today.

From a newly established 'capitol' in the east Texas town of Overton, Daniel Miller, President of the Republic of Texas Interim Government, says a desire to be free, combined with ballooning concerns over rising taxes and property rights, will convince more Texans to support a 'referendum' on whether Texas should become an independent nation."

Steve

I found this potential exchange on Joe Carter's Evangelical Outpost Outtakes from 2/23/05.

Naked in New York -- New York City has thousands of restaurants, offering cuisine from around the globe. But one Manhattan diner offers its customers something not found on any menu: the opportunity to eat in the nude.

Sherry Stafford, a “petite and elegant 51-year-old with blond hair and high heels”, finds nothing wrong with the arrangement:
"Wearing clothes and going to church does not protect you from moral evil," Stafford said, lamenting what she saw as a tendency to demonize people just because they like to be naked.

Maybe not. But as Jared Bridges points out, “it offers strong protection against having to eat with a fat, hairy, naked man sitting in the next booth.”

Steve

Although I have been posting sparingly as of late, I have heard no complaints. So, being of a cantankerous sort, I figure that it is about time to get back at it. Of course, everyone knows that there just must be a very good reason for my absence and indeed there is.

As of late, I have been in close association and negotiation with my long-time friend, Barry Bonds. He likes to hang around with me in that no one would ever think that I even knew what steroids were let alone used or supplied them. And it doesn't hurt his reputation by being seen with one of such integrity and dignity.

Together, we have come up with an ingenious scheme to defuse the steroid flap that dominates the recent sporting press concerning the accusations made in Jose Canseco's newly released book, Juiced. Barry and I are going to embark on authoring a series of books for the purpose of muckraking other key professions. The editions concerning politicians, lawyers, and used car salesman will be the easiest, but for strategic purposes we will initiate the series of exposes by unmasking the journalism profession. We have found a down-on-his-luck writer and have allowed him to shed light on the inner workings of the press. He revealed to us of his collaborations in plagerized works, knowingly falsified information and documents, and conclusions with no basis in fact. He names names, gives specific dates, and passed a polygraph that is to be aired at the proper time. He has been interviewed by Mark McGuire, Pudge Rodriguez, and Gary Sheffield. These will also be released at a strategic time corresponding with the promotion of our book(s).

Barry and I postulate that this blizzard of accusation swirling in the air will redirect the heat from the athletes and allow them to get back to playing the games of little boys with dignity and pride.

BREAKING NEWS

Yahoo! Sports - NFL - Agent: Vikings agree to deal Moss to Raiders:

"MINNEAPOLIS (AP) -- Randy Moss is heading for Oakland, the receiver's agent said Wednesday.

Dante DiTrapano, Moss' agent, told The Associated Press that the Minnesota Vikings and the Raiders had ``come to an agreement on Randy playing for Oakland next year.''

Neither the Vikings nor the Raiders would confirm the deal, which was first reported by The St. Paul Pioneer Press on its Web site."

Nerd Alert!

Moviehole.net - Hamill on possible Skywalker return:

"IESB caught up with the actor - forever known as Luke Skywalker - at the DVD Exclusive Awards, who hinted that, yes, there might well be a 'Star Wars' TV series in the works (Guess it's safe to say then that I've spoke to some official troopers who've also confirmed it - but were hoping the news would stay under lock-and-key for a spell) and that there's always a possibility that an aged Luke Skywalker might make an appearance.

'Never Say Never', Hamill cheekily tells the site, stressing that 'He hasn't heard anything officially about it', though.

Hamill says a 'Star Wars' TV series is a good idea because it would mean it'd probably concentrate more on story than special effects. He said it could be 'like Tales of the Jedi Knight - which they do so well in the comics'."

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. Star Wars will never end - there's way too much money in it. (Hat tip to Vodkapundit)

This is why I like to click over to Odd Wisconsin every now and then.

On this date in 1861 Jefferson Davis was sworn in as president of the Confederate States of America. Thirty years before that he had been a young officer in Wisconsin and this memoir by one of his contemporaries, put on paper during the Civil War, describes how the future president was humbled by a Wisconsin boat builder.

Madison's underground population of mutant alligator-men has attacked!

Channel3000.com - News - Emergency Crews Working On Downtown Fire

MADISON, Wis. -- Madison fire officials told News 3 there is a fire underneath the street at State and Henry streets. MG&E and Madison firefighters are on the scene trying to put it out.

Manhole covers have reportedly been blown off near Johnson Street, and power is reportedly off near the State Street and theh University of Wisconsin campus area.

Given the seriousness of these events, you'd think the government and its lapdog media would want people to have all the facts, but no! Later on in the same story:

It's unknown, at this time, what caused the fire.

The coverup continues!

Cool.

Re-dating of 2 skulls found in '67 may be oldest human fossils

Two skulls unearthed in Ethiopia may be the oldest known human fossils, dating from the dawn of modern humanity 195,000 years ago, a new analysis shows.

In research made public Thursday, scientists recalculated the age of the two previously discovered skulls, concluding they were about 30,000 years older than any other human fossils.

The antiquity of the skulls makes them the only reliable record of a time when anatomically modern humans first appeared among more primitive species in the evolutionary incubator of Africa.

In resolving the age of the fossils, however, the dating experts highlighted a deeper mystery of human evolution that the bones by themselves could not answer: the gap between the advent of modern human anatomy and the awakening of the mind 50,000 to 150,000 years later.

Okay, okay, I'll stop bitching about the three inches or so we got over the weekend.

MSNBC - Dozens killed in Kashmir snow storm: "At least 1,000 houses have been damaged in the region, which has received up to 15 feet of snow since Friday."

Shhhh. It's very, very quiet.

I'll be posting a column about some recent Baraboo-area school issues next door a little later on tonight. I wanted to include something about this letter, written by the tastefully named Lance Alwin, Baraboo School District Administrator, but it didn't fit into the column.

You have to read the whole thing for context, but it's the last paragraph that really got my attention. I've added emphasis in a few places.

School Board did the right, though difficult, thing

On Monday night, our Board of Education took the courageous action of voting to close some of our most beloved local treasures, our schools. This extraordinary action was taken in order that we, as an educational community, might better face an uncertain future. As a district, we have already, for several years, been in the mode of reducing resources to our schools, children, and staff, as a way of responding to the fact that our financial resources have been dwindling. And, all things being accounted for, we expect the level of those resources to continue to recede.

As the newly selected District Administrator of our schools, I do not come to use of the word courageous in this context haphazardly. I recognize that courageous for some looks like foolishness to others, that courageous to still others feels like insensitivity. Neither of these reflections on the board's actions could be further from the truth!

Obviously, I choose to agree with the board's vote and, as reminded by the tears of some of those in attendance at Monday's board meeting, respect that others disagree with the vote of the board. Regardless, of this I am certain, as an educational community, what we all witnessed in the work of our Board of Education is akin to what I call Rushmorian leadership. The faces of our past presidents that sit atop Mount Rushmore are there because they served the common good of our nation by adhering to a set of moral principles and moral conduct that, while in office, eventually led our nation through dark and uncertain times to a brighter future for all.

Throughout this wretched process looking at closing schools, our board acted with certainty in maintaining its focus upon the shared moral principles that guide our community's way of life. They did not succumb to the temptation of taking the easy way out of a troubling dilemma by voting to please everyone. They understood full well that to do so risked eroding the existing, and future, quality of all of our children's educational opportunities and experiences here in Baraboo.

President James Madison said that the mark of a true moral leader is one that, "hears through the loud din of self interest and wants of individuals and is able to discern the true needs of its citizens, and then takes action accordingly." Our Board of Education has endeavored, as duly elected officials of all residing within the boundaries of our district, to do just that.

I wish that some of our other duly elected government officials, while claiming to serve a participatory form of governance that culls from them no form of decision-making for discernment for the common good of the whole, would stop to take heed of what has transpired by the example, as painful as it has been for us all, of the Rushmorian leadership that is alive and well in the Baraboo School District Board of Education.

Lance C. Alwin, district administrator, Baraboo School District

Kevin of Lakeshore Laments has more on that story about the Manitowoc man arrested for smuggling info to China.

Tired of speeding tickets? Want to open up spaces between you and the cars around you?

Step 1. Tie these balloons to your car.

Step 2. Drive VERY FAST.

Step 3. Watch people freak out.

Step 4. Tell the nice officer you thought they were real.

Did you guys hear about this?

In this image released by The WB Network, Bugs Bunny and his pals are shown updated for the future. The WB network will take the famed Looney Tunes characters as models for a new children's series this fall. The characters' descendants, Buzz Bunny and the like, will be superhero action figures for a cartoon set in the year 2772. (AP Photo/The WB Network)

I hadn't heard about this. Anybody else?

TIME.com: China's Big Export -- Feb. 21, 2005

Ning Wen and his wife were arrested last fall at their home office in Manitowoc, Wis., for allegedly sending their native China $500,000 worth of computer parts that could enhance missile systems.

John Leo on why liberals won't like it if they move to Canada:

Strange and maddening football games.

For reasons nobody can fathom, Canadian football is played on an enormous field, with 12 players on a side and only three downs, so every third play tends to be a punt. Canadian football alone is said to have driven an estimated 2 million Canadians across the border to become U.S. citizens. Many believe Bush could not have won without the disaffected Canadian football vote.

And another one from Agape Press:

"The Social Security payroll tax is already 12.4 percent of wages, or one eighth of a worker's total annual wages. It is the biggest tax the average household must pay. Roughly 80 percent of American families pay more in Social Security taxes than they do in federal income taxes."

Interesting facts about Social Security, from The Federalist Patriot:

"Notwithstanding the 'welfare reform' acts of the 1990s, when Social Security turned 65, SSI benefits covered 6,688,489 Americans at a cost of $32,165,856,000, while Social Security itself disbursed some $431,949,000,000 to 45,877,506 beneficiaries. However, those staggering numbers are mere chump change compared to what lies ahead."

Wisconsin at Illinois is getting started in about twenty minutes. I want the Badgers to win so bad I can taste it.

UPDATE - bah. Is it outside the bounds of polite society now for me to cheer for Illinois to have an undefeated season?

More link work next door. I briefly had a "neither, really" category for political-ish blogs that don't fit into conservative or liberal, but dumped it. I'm more comfortable having Ann Althouse in my conservative list, even though she doesn't completely fit there. The only other "neither, really" candidate was the Electric Company, which I just shunted over to my "other" category.

Plus, note the change in the "family" links. Little Brother Sam's website has a new name, which is why that link wasn't working. Now it's called Digital Boogaloo. Commence mocking. Then click over - especially follow his link called "McKendre." You can listen to samples of his music there, which he and his friend Brian produced and performed, just the two of them, without even writing it down.

Steve

I categorically deny an involvement in the use of steroids that may be stated or intimated in Jose Canseco's new muckraking book, Juiced. All my athletic accomplishments and exploits were due to God-given talent and extemely hard work. Besides, I would never let Jose touch my butt.

Steve

There is a movement afoot that is rapidly gaining in popularity and seems to make a lot of sense. People are pushing to win the Nobel Peace Prize for Yasir Arafat-- for dying. Lots of merit.

Here's the valentine I'm getting for MJ this year:



Here's the one Linda got for Steve:



More here, including some that should not be shared with minors.

UPDATE - link fixed.

New Scientist Breaking News - Saturn's moon is Death Star's twin

Saturn's diminutive moon, Mimas, poses as the Death Star - the planet-destroying space station from the movie Star Wars - in an image recently captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft.

A giant crater 138 kilometres across dominates the landscape of Mimas and represents almost one-third of the moon's diameter.

Scientists first noticed Mimas's resemblance to the Death Star when the twin Voyager spacecraft flew past Saturn in 1980 and 1981. The second film in the movie series - The Empire Strikes Back - had just hit movie theatres, recalls Cassini deputy project scientist Linda Spilker.

Excellent column on Social Security reform, by Jay Bryant.

Some excerpts:

What would have happened, I thought, if I'd invested my social security taxes in the average blue chip Dow Industrial stock all these years, instead of sending them to the government?

...I paid a total of 6% on my $93 (earned in 1960), which equals $5.58. Since 1960, the Dow has increased by a factor of 1650.80%, meaning that if I had taken the $5.58 and bought the average Dow stock, the investment would today be worth $97.69, and the $15.84 I paid the next year on my $264 burger-flipping wages would be worth 217.77, the Dow being up 1374.82% since 1961.

...

The bottom line is that my mythical Dow-Instead-Of-Social-Security portfolio would today be worth $930,651.89.

...for a 62-year-old male in Maryland, a $930,651.89 single life annuity will return an "estimated" $5,748 per month, assuming the deal ends the day I die. That's $68,976 a year, tax-free. If I'm willing to let Mrs. Bryant collect payments after my demise, the monthly payments go down a bit (but not much), depending on how long she gets to collect.

Of course, it's all academic, since I wasn't allowed to invest any, let alone all, of my social security taxes. So I'm stuck with my lousy $1,327 a month ($15,924 a year), less than a fourth of what I could have had. And, of course, there would have been lots of ways to make a lot more than my modest hypothetical "average Dow" plan.

Ha!

Men think 4% faster than women, according to Canadian research

MEN can think 4% faster than women, if controversial Canadian research is true.

A zoologist and two psychologists, all of whom are male, claim to have successfully measured the speeds at which brains transmit nerve impulses.

And it's because we're fatheads!

The nerves in men's brains, the authors suggest, may have greater conductivity because they have thicker coatings of myelin, a fatty substance.

Nerd Alert:

I'd meant to post on this a couple of weeks ago, when I first heard it:

TrekToday - UPN Cancels 'Star Trek: Enterprise'

Star Trek: Enterprise will come to an end following the airing of an as yet untitled series finale on May the 13th, 2005.

I'm a little disappointed. I agree, somewhat, that the whole time-war thing turned silly, but on the whole I've really enjoyed this new Trek.

Anyway, speculation has already turned to what the next Trek will be. Vodkapundit posted part of a column, with a few ideas (edited for length - click here for the whole column):

Star Trek: Smallville: The "Starfleet Academy" idea proposal has been floating around for years. There's two ways of doing this: cast people to play famous characters when they were younger or create new characters.

Star Trek: The West Wing: We've established a little bit about the Federation Government. Why don’t we learn a little more?

CSI Vulcan: Criminal investigations (and the ability of criminals for disguise) in the Star Trek-universe just seems like a perfect candidate for a future hit.

Personally, I hope the next one goes maybe 200 years into the future past Next Generation and Voyager.

Very interesting column by George Will, on Governor Ahnuld Schwarzenegger. An excerpt:

A second initiative would change the retirement system for 2 million state and local employees. The state will pay a $2.6 billion share of those employees' retirement this year, up from only $160 million four years ago. Under Schwarzenegger's plan, government workers hired after June 2007 would be enrolled in privately managed accounts akin to 401(k)s, with the state matching up to 6 percent of their salaries, 9 percent for public safety officers. Sixteen states have adopted or are considering private accounts as voluntary options. Opposition by government employees unions, who nationwide wield the investment power of hundreds of billions of dollars in retirement funds, killed a similar proposal in California seven years ago.

Upshot: Ahnuld's using the ballot initiative to get around a hostile Legislature, and he's winning.

Okay, as all of you know, I'm less than four months away from having a teenaged daughter in the house. Therefore, just to help me out, everyone posting or commenting on Grandpa John's will be required to use that wierd shorthand the kids are using when they chat, or IM, or whatever the hell it is they're doing on the computer all day.

I figure, if I can learn all this stuff without my daughter knowing that I know it, I can read over her shoulder and know what they're talking about.

For your reference, here's a list of abbreviations:

NetLingo.com Dictionary of Internet Terms: Online Definitions & Text Messaging - Acronyms, IM, SMS, Email Shorthand

Proceed.

Our long national nightmare has begun.

I had to ask Mr. Pterodactyl once what "fisking" is. Here's Ann Althouse with her take:

...my understanding that to 'fisk' something is to go line-by-line, making devastating attacks against one thing after another. I'll take this as a confirmation.

Anyway, what I did to the Nation article was really almost the opposite of fisking. I cherry-picked one egregious distortion and based my entire post on that. This approach to a post is probably much more common than fisking...

Steve

This billboard on Sunset Strip is just a kick in the pants!

(HT: World Magazine Blog)

Steve

We got this in an e-mail from Natalie. I don't know who originated the story, but it's pretty unique. Somebody had a bad hair day!


FOR THE LADIES...

WAX ON . . . WAX OFF:

The first thing you should know is that hair removal is not my friend. The particular talent of removing unwanted hair has eluded me. All methods have tricked me with their promises of easy, painless removal The Epilady, the standard razor, the scissors, Nair, the EpilStop, and now .... The Wax.

My night began as any other normal weekday night. I came home from work, fixed dinner for myself and watched TV for a while. I then had the thought that would ring painfully in my mind for the next couple of hours: "maybe I should use that wax in my medicine cabinet."

So I headed to the site of my demise, um, I mean bathroom. It was one of those cold wax kits. No melting a clump of hot wax, you just rub the clear strips in your hand, peel them apart, press it on your leg (or wherever) and ignore the frantically rising crescendo of string instruments in the background. No muss, no fuss.

How hard can this be? I mean, I'm not the girly-est of girls but I'm mechanically inclined so maybe I can figure out how this works. At least you'd think so. So I pull one of the thin strips out. It's two strips facing each other, stuck together. I'm supposed to rub it in my hand to warm and soften the wax (I'm guessing). I go one better. I pull out the hair dryer and heat the SOB to ten thousand degrees.
Cold wax, my ass. (Oh, how that phrase will come back to haunt me.) I lay the strip across my thigh. I hold the skin around it and pull. OK, so it wasn't the best feeling in the world, but it wasn't bad. I can do this! Hair removal no longer eludes me! I am Sheera, fighter of all wayward body hair and smooth skin extraordinary! With my next wax strip, I move north. I sneak into the bathroom for The Ultimate Hair Fighting Championship. I drop my panties and place one foot on the toilet. Using the same procedure, I then apply the wax strip across the right side on my bikini line, covering the right half of my vagina and stretching up into the inside of the right ass cheek. (Yeah, it was a long strip.) I inhale deeply. I brace myself. RRRIIIIPPP!!!!

I'm blind! Blind from the pain! Vision returning. Oh crap. I've managed to pull off half an inch of the strip. Another deep breath. And RIIIP! Everything is swirly and tie-dyed? Do I hear crashing drums? OK, coming back to normal again.

I want to see my trophy - my wax covered pelt that caused me so much agony. I want to revel in the glory that is my triumph over body hair. I hold the wax strip like an Olympic gold medallist. But why is there no hair on it? Why is the wax mostly gone? Where could the wax go, if not on the strip?

Slowly, I eased my head down, my foot still perched on the toilet. I see hair - the hair that should be on the strip. I touch. I feel. I am touching wax. I look to the ceiling and silently shout "nooooooo!!" And realize I have just begun living my own personal version of The Tar Baby. I peel my fingers off the softest, most sensitive part of my body that is now covered in cold wax and matted hair, and make the next big mistake - up until this point, you'll remember, I've had my foot on the toilet. I know I need to move, to do something. So I put my foot down on the floor. And then I hear the slamming of the cell door.

Vagina? .... Sealed shut. Ass? ...... Sealed shut. A little voice in my head says "I hope you don't have to shit anytime soon. Your head just might pop off."

I penguin walk around the bathroom trying desperately to figure out what I should do next. Hot water! Hot water melts wax! I'll run the hottest water I can stand and get in - the wax should melt and I can gently wipe it away, right? Wrong. I get in the tub - the water is slightly hotter than is used to torture prisoners of war or sterilize surgical equipment. And I sit.

Now the only thing worse than having your goodies glued together is having them glued together and then glued to the bottom of a tub. In scalding hot water. Which, by the way, does not melt the cold wax. So now I'm stuck to the tub. I call my friend because she once dropped out of beauty school so surely she has some secret knowledge or trick to get wax off skin.

It's never good to start a conversation with "So my ass and whohoo are
stuck to the tub." She doesn't have a trick. She does her best to suppress laughter. She wants to know exactly where the wax is on the ass "Are we talking cheek or hole, here?" she asks. She isn't even trying to hide the giggles now. I give her the run-down of the entire night.

She tells me to call the number on the side of the box, but to have a good cover story for where the wax actually is. You know that if we were working the help line at XXX Wax Co. and somebody called with their entire crack sealed shut we'd just put them on hold then record the conversation for everyone we know. You're going to end up on a radio show or the internet if you tell them the truth.

While we go through various solutions, I resort to scraping the wax off with a razor. Boy, nothing feels better to the girly goodies than covering them in wax, sticking them to a tub in super hot water and THEN dry shaving the sticky wax off!
In the middle of the conversation (which has inexplicably turned to other subjects!) I find the little, beautiful saving grace that is the lotion provided with wax to remove the excess. I rub some in and start screaming "It's working! It's working!" I get hearty congratulations from my friend and we hang up.

I successfully remove all the wax and notice, to my dismay, that the hair is still there. So I shaved the damned stuff off. Hell, I was numb by that point anyway. And then I put the box of wax back in my medicine cabinet. Never know when a mustache might start to come in.

Tonight, I attempt hair dying.

Steve

Bummer! Rats!

Steve

Burri on Sports (B.S.)

--As reported by Summer Sanders of Fox Sports Net's 'Sports Lists':
When told that he was making more money than President Hoover, Babe Ruth replied, "Well, I had a better year."

--As a big fan of 'The Tour de France' since 1979, I was elated to watch Lance Armstrong with his unprecedented sixth straight title this past summer. (Many thanks to OLN for televising them!) His well documented victory over widely spread cancer was incredible in itself, but returning from a possible death bed to participate in the Tour and winning by such margins is truly unbelievable.

But OLN has recently been responsible for a reminder of another American sports legend. About a week ago, I saw their airing of the story of Greg LeMond. LeMond, the only other American to ever win the Tour, was accidentally shotgunned in the back during a hunting trip after winning the Tour in 1986. Pellets were removed from his liver, kidneys, and intestines to help save his life. Two pellets were left in his pericardial sac and more than 30 pellets remained throughout his thorax, abdomen, and legs. After years of rehabilitation and failure, Greg LeMond returned to top form and won the Tour in 1989, and again in 1990. His strength waned and retired in 1994 after being diagnosed with mitochondrial myopathy.

So what is with these Americans, rising from their death beds to earn international championships? Now if we can find basketball players that are now at death's door, we will be able to field a team that could win the 2008 Summer Olympics! Or maybe, just maybe, the NHL could be inspired to make such a comeback.

--German Heavyweight boxer, Max Schmeling died on February 2, 2005, at the age of 99. Schmeling won the World Heavyweight Title from Jack Sharkey in 1930 on a disqualification, and lost the rematch to Sharkey in 1932 on points in 15 rounds. To most Americans, however, he was best known for his two bouts with 'The Brown Bomber', Joe Louis. After his first match with Louis in 1936, Hitler's Nazis used the 12th round knockout victory for 'Aryan supremacy' propoganda. Schmeling was knocked out by Louis during the 1st round in 1938, suffering a broken vertebra.

In spite of heavy temptation in the face of evil, Max Schmeling retained high integrity:

'While this loss did not ingratiate him with high-ranking party members, it was probably his personal life that undermined his status with the Nazi party. Despite repeated warnings from officials, the boxer openly associated with Jews. Schmeling was married to the Austrian film star Anny Ondra, and there were a number of Jews in her production company; further, Schmeling's trainer, American Joe Jacobs, was Jewish. In later years, Schmeling's actions during the “Kristallnacht” pogrom of November 9, 1938, when he sheltered two Jewish boys in his Berlin apartment, were related to the press.
Schmeling's refusal to abandon Jewish friends cost him the sympathy of the Nazi regime. During World War II, when many German sports heroes were given favoured treatment, Schmeling was assigned to the parachute forces. He was injured in 1941 during the German airborne invasion of Crete.' (Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2003)

Max Schmeling befriended Joe Louis and often gave him money when Louis hit hard times from poor financial management and heavy problems with the IRS. He paid for Louis' funeral in 1981 and continued to aid his widow financially after The Brown Bomber's death.


--Prefight weigh-ins for championship heavyweight boxing matches are often more entertaining than the bouts themselves. It is not uncommon for one particular heavyweight to be involved in more than one such incident. Here's the dialogue reported in one such incident:

"As far as I'm concerned, the only pro- or crypto-Nazi I can think of is yourself."

"Now listen, you queer, stop calling me a crypto-Nazi or I'll sock you in your goddamn face and you'll stay plastered."

The combatants were Gore Vidal and William F. Buckley!

Vidal and Norman Mailer also had such prefight run ins. Mailer headbutted Vidal on The Dick Cavett Show in 1971, and years later, after a drink throwing incident, Vidal's significant other, his boxing 'second', offered to fight Mailer. Mailer replied, "My fourteen-year-old son could take you!"

Ye gods! 'The Thrilla in Vanilla!'

A touch of brilliance from Victor Davis Hanson.

Victor Davis Hanson on the Left on National Review Online

Stalin and Mao killed over 80 million and did not make omelets despite the broken eggs.

Yes, this is an interesting story, but the only reason I'm posting it is so I can show a couple friends how to blog.

JS Online: State lawmakers hear both sides of voter ID debate

The 2 1/8 -by-3 3/8 -inch card that most Wisconsin residents carry in their wallets is either the key to restoring voters' faith in the electoral system or a method for preventing thousands of people from voting.

Lance

Have you guys heard Wisconsin's new slogan? "Wisconsin - Life's So Good."

The State Journal's Susan Lampert Smith has a really funny column about that today, with her own ideas for a slogan.

A sampling:

Because it's Winter: "Wisconsin - Life's so gray"
And then, for early Spring: "Wisconsin - Life's slow goo."

She offered another modification of the new slogan which I won't include here, but which reflects on some of the more pornographic spam she gets in her inbox.

Her favorite slogan, and mine, is still the old "Escape to Wisconsin." But, she has other ideas, too:

"Wisconsin - A little below Superior."
"Wisconsin - Where the Tollway Ends."

I was just reading the first few weeks of posts on this blog. Very interesting discussions way back then.

I made Townhall!

Townhall.com: Today's Issues

It's the fifth bullet under "Budget, Taxes, and the Economy."

ESPN has a list of the top 100 Superbowl moments. Lots of bits from I, II, and XXXI (what? XXXII? Why would we want to know about that?). Here's the link:

ESPN.com: Page 2 - Greatest Super Bowl moments

And here's my favorite bit:

#52: Hammer time ...
Super Bowl I: The Super Bowl media frenzy kicks off right from the first game when Chiefs DB Fred "The Hammer" Williamson says, "Two hammers to (Boyd) Dowler, one to (Carroll) Dale should be enough."

#51 ... Down goes The Hammer
Super Bowl I: Instead, it was Williamson who got hammered -- he was knocked out of the game trying to tackle Green Bay running back Donnie Anderson..

You've got to love this.

Yahoo! News - Claims of GI Hostage in Iraq Raises Doubt

BAGHDAD, Iraq - A Web site posted a photograph of what it claimed was a kidnapped U.S. soldier, but doubts were quickly raised about its authenticity and the U.S. military said no soldiers were missing.

An American toy manufacturer said the figure in the photo resembled one of its military action figures, originally produced for sale at U.S. bases in Kuwait.

A wonderfully written point (especially the second and third paragraphs), by a guy named Harvey at a blog called Bad Example. Found it at Boots and Sabers, had to post it myself.

YOU CAN KEEP THE MONEY IN POLITICS, JUST GET THE POLITICS THE HELL OUT OF MY LIFE

Ogre of Ogre's Politics & Views contemplates whether there's a difference between a campaign contribution and a bribe, and how this relates to recent 'scandals' about bloggers taking money from politicians.

As far as I'm concerned, the problem - as far as campaign contributions/bribes - isn't that people are using money to buy influence. That's human nature. The problem is that government has so many things that it has granted itself the power to have influence over.

The problem is socialism - government's filthy paw digging around in every aspect of our lives. With a proper, constitutionally-restricted government, there wouldn't be any influence to BUY, and all this campaign-finance hoo-hah would be irrelevant.

As for bloggers taking money, the decision to accept cash for advocacy is a matter of integrity and protecting (or not) one's reputation regarding that integrity.

If your reputation matters, you'll either not take the money, or take it and admit up front that you did, and people can judge you accordingly.

Yes!

Yahoo! News - Bush Budget to Scrap Subsidy for Amtrak-Sources

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration will for the first time propose eliminating operating subsidies for passenger train operator Amtrak as part of a push to cut budget deficits, people close to the budget process said on Tuesday.