Saturday, April 25, 2015

Meet Tom DeLay, Convicted Felon


Photo credit:  Wikipedia (public domain)
Quote source:  Raw Story

Tom Delay, Convicted Felon. (Washington Monthly, 11/26/2010)

Quoting the New York Times.
During his tenure leading House Republicans, Mr. DeLay established a new low in ethical conduct among Congressional leaders. He put family members on his campaign payroll, took lavish trips paid for by lobbyists and twisted the arms of K Street lobbyists to ante up and donate to his party's candidates and hire more Republicans. But his conviction on Wednesday came from something else entirely, a scheme to steer corporate contributions to Republicans in the Texas Legislature.

Has Paul Soglin been listening to 'The Best of Bobby Goldsboro'?





“We have a dangerous situation,” Soglin said in an interview. “What am I going to do when some child playing on the Square or State Street picks up a needle and is infected? This is about health, safety and crime.”

Flashback to July 22, 1990, and this excerpt from "State Street -- a road less traveled," an article in the Wisconsin State Journal.
The State Street championed by then-and-now Mayor Paul Soglin achieved one goal:  to transform a deteriorating, congested shopping district into a distinctive, culturally vibrant area of shops, sidewalk cafes, street musicians and horse-drawn surreys.

Related post:
UPDATE:  State Street stalwarts, 6 years later.  (2/1/2015)

Aerial View of Downtown Missoula Montana




Note the appropriately named Broadway (starting at 0:23), where angled parking is still permitted.

Downtown Missoula.

Angled parking was also the rule along Central Avenue in downtown Great Falls for many years.  Now a "halfsies" regulation appears to be in place.

From Retiring Guy's postcard collection

DNC Vice Chair serves up one of the week's best Scott Walker zingers


Photo credit:  City Pages
Quote source: Capital Times
("Minnesota Democrats slam Scott Walker during trip across the border")

An animated video of the bridge.


More information about this shared Minnesota-Wisconsin project can be found here

Zeta Beta Tau: No Mission Accomplished Here


Source:  Zeta Beta Tau

Zeta Beta Tau fraternity members disrespected us, wounded veterans say. (CNN, 4/24/2015)

None of the above.
"People were urinating off the balconies, throwing up in the elevators, making suggestive and sexual comments about veterans with their service dogs and derogatory and suggestive comments about their wives."

Related posts:
Yet another fraternity fails to live up to its creed.  (3/11/2015) 
The Vision, Spirit, Motto, and Values of Greek-Letter Organizations.  (1/29/2015)

No Friend to the Environment: Republican Representative Phil Roe, M.D., Tennessee's 1st Congressional District


Photo sourceU.S. Congress
Quote source:   U.S. Representative Phil Roe, M.D.*

*Wherein he agrees 'that we must be good stewards of the environment', a statement seriously undermined by his 0% rating in 2014 from the League of Conservation Voters.

Tea Party Caucus member Roe was re-elected to a 4th term in 2014 with 83% of the vote.

Required reading for Rep. Roe and his northeastern Tennessee constituents.

Climate Change in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park.  (Macalaster College Environmental Studies Department.)


Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/news/local/article13852676.html#storylink=cpy
3% lifetime rating (0% in 2014) from the League of Conservation Voters.


No Friend to the Environment dishonor roll.

Alabama Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives.   (Their anti-environmentalism can be summed up in one world:  coal.  Which is odd, since Alabama contributes a mere 1.9% of U.S. production, good enough for an overall ranking of 13.  The state's peak year of production:  1990)  
Alaska Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
  • At-large District.  Don Young (R).   Ridiculed environmentalists as a “self-centered bunch of waffle-stomping, Harvard-graduating, intellectual idiots.....not Americans, never have been Americans, never will be Americans.” 
 Arizona Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
Arkansas Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
California Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
Colorado Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
No House Republicans hail from Connecticut and Delaware. 
Florida Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
Georgia Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
 Idaho Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
 Illinois Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
 Indiana Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
 Iowa Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
Kansas Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
Kentucky Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
Louisiana Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
Maine Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
Maryland Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
No House Republicans in Massachusetts delegation.
Michigan Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
Minnesota Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
Mississippi Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
Missouri Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives 
Montana Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
Nebraska Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
Nevada Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
New Hampshire Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
 New Jersey Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
New Mexico Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
New York Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
 North Carolina Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
North Dakota Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
 Ohio Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
 Oklahoma Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
 Oregon Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
  Pennsylvania Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
South Carolina Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
South Dakota Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
Tennessee Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
  •  1st District.  Phil Roe (R).  His energy plan includes "all of the above."


Friday, April 24, 2015

In the News: Parma, New Madrid County, Missouri


[Pronounced MAD rid, just like we in Wisconsin pronounce BER lin.]

SourceWikipedia (as is map below)

Black Mayor Is Voted In and a Small Town’s Staff Empties Out.  (The New York Times, 4/23/2015)

2010 census:  713, down from 852 in 2000.
Parma’s main strip looks like a bombed-out Wild West town, with abandoned brick buildings — an awning collapsing from one of them — broken windows and piles of rubble inside. There are two convenience stores and a couple of farming-related businesses, but generally little commercial life. Things here faded over the past several decades, as did the surrounding area, as small-time farming was overtaken by industrial operations, hurting the economy, residents said.



Here ends another episode of The Land That Time Forgot. 

The Rev. Pat Robertson might be moved to say that this weather map is God's continuing punishment of Californicators


Precipitation is in the forecast over most of the West.


But, except for a northeastern sliver of the state, California gets bypassed.  Again.

(The weather map is from today's New York Times.  Red arrows added.)

Related posts:
Traffic noise competes with almond grower's interview.  (4/8/2015)
Californians' majority view of drought: Some serious stuff but no water rationing, please.  (3/19/2015) 
California intensity: From abnormally dry to exceptional drought.  (3/19/2015)

In the News (Stuff You Can't Make Up): Strippers at Chinese Funerals




China Says Please Stop Hiring Funeral Strippers. (The Wall Street Journal, 4/23/2015)

As my son just commented, "Why don't they just have an open bar, or a big spread of food?"
According to a statement from the Ministry of Culture on Thursday, the government plans to work closely with the police to eliminate such performances, which are held with the goal of drawing more mourners.

100 Years of Frank Sinatra: "The Huckle Buck"


Recorded on April 10, 1949, Sinatra's version of "The Huckle Buck", one of many covers, was his only song to reach the top 10 from mid-1947 through 1953.



As the Popular Song website explains.....
This was the heyday of "competing" recordings. Columbia would see a Decca hit rising up the charts, and rush to put a Sinatra version out. RCA would persuade Perry [Como] to record it. Capitol's Johnny Mercer would try his hand, while Mitch Miller would use someone from the Mercury stable, usually Frankie Laine in 1949. Thus listeners might have as many as four versions of a song playing on the radio at any given time, while record buyers could choose between six or more versions on the shelves. It was common, and nobody thought much of it, although there was a "race" to record and press competing copies. But it was business, the records were made quickly and released.

In my estimation, the best-ever version of "The Huckle Buck".



Thanks to reruns, I became a huge fan of "The Honeymooners" by my early teens.  And remain so more than 50 years later.

As for my own version of 'The Huckle Buck", a little movement in my sacroiliac in 1949 had nothing to do with the song, I'm sure.

Perhaps I was just excited about my baptism.

With Mom, with Grandma Luthgren



Other Frank Sinatra 100 posts:
"Our Love".  (2/14/2015)
"I'll Never Smile Again".  (2/15/2015)
"Fools Rush In".  (2/16/2015)
"Dolores".  (2/17/2015)
"Oh Look At Me Now".  (2/18/2015)
"This Love of Mine".  (2/20/2015)
"There Are Such Things."  (2/24/2015)
"Night and Day".  (2/26/2015)
"The Night We Called It a Day".  (2/27/2015)
Paramount Theater, December 30, 1942.  (3/2/2015)
Reveille with Beverly.  (3/4/2015)
"You'll Never Know".  (3/7/2015)
Higher and Higher.  (3/8/2015)
"People Will Say We're in Love".  (3/10/2015)
The Shining Future.  (3/17/2015)
"I Couldn't Sleep a Wink Last Night".  (3/19/2015)
Step Lively.  (3/20/2015) .
"Saturday Night (is the Loneliest Night of the Week)".  (3/21/2015)
"You'll Never Walk Alone".  (3/23/2015)
"Oh What It Seemed to Be".  (3/24/2015)
Anchors Aweigh.  (3/26/2015)
"Day by Day".  3/27/2015)
Till the Clouds Roll By.  (3/29/2015)
"Always".  (3/30/2015)
It Happened in Brooklyn.  (3/31/2015)
"I've Got a Crush on You".  (4/3/2015)
"Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas".  (4/5/2015)
"It Only Happens When I Dance With You".  (4/7/2015)
The Miracle of the Bells.  (4/9/2015)
The birth of Tina.  (4/11/2015)
The Kissing Bandit.  (4/16/2015)
"Some Enchanted Evening."  (4/19/2015)
Take Me Out to the Ball Game.  (4/22/2015)

No Friend to the Environment: Republican Representative Kristi Noem, South Dakota's At-large Congressional District


Photo sourceU.S. Congress
Quote source:   Think Progress

Tea Party turncoat Noem was re-elected to a 3rd term in 2014 with 67% of the vote.

Required reading for Rep. Rice and her South Dakota constituents.

How climate change will affect South Dakota: more weed growth, 100-degree days.  (Rapid City Journal, 6/22/2014)
Over the next century, climate scientists say, states in the Northern Plains will face warmer winters, heavier rainfalls, and, according to some projections, twice as many days over 100 degrees F in the summer than they do now.

Read more here: http://www.thestate.com/news/local/article13852676.html#storylink=cpy
7% lifetime rating (3% in 2014) from the League of Conservation Voters.


No Friend to the Environment dishonor roll.

Alabama Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives.   (Their anti-environmentalism can be summed up in one world:  coal.  Which is odd, since Alabama contributes a mere 1.9% of U.S. production, good enough for an overall ranking of 13.  The state's peak year of production:  1990)  
Alaska Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
  • At-large District.  Don Young (R).   Ridiculed environmentalists as a “self-centered bunch of waffle-stomping, Harvard-graduating, intellectual idiots.....not Americans, never have been Americans, never will be Americans.” 
 Arizona Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
Arkansas Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
California Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
Colorado Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
No House Republicans hail from Connecticut and Delaware. 
Florida Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
Georgia Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
 Idaho Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
 Illinois Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
 Indiana Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
 Iowa Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
Kansas Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
Kentucky Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
Louisiana Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
Maine Congressional delegation:  U.S. House of Representatives
Maryland Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
No House Republicans in Massachusetts delegation.
Michigan Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
Minnesota Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
Mississippi Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
Missouri Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives 
Montana Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
Nebraska Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
Nevada Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
New Hampshire Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
 New Jersey Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
New Mexico Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
New York Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
 North Carolina Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
North Dakota Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
 Ohio Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
 Oklahoma Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
 Oregon Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
  Pennsylvania Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
South Carolina Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives
South Dakota Congressional delegation:   U.S. House of Representatives