MRQ is up

It’s the Frankenstein veto edition.

Filed under: Blogging, Wisconsin

ESPN spike?

On this post about Deanna Favre.

I didn’t see her talk about it, but read that she had promoted her book Don’t Bet Against Me when I was trying to figure out why 115 people had checked out the post (29 more have clicked on it since I started writing this post).

So being the good blogger, I’ll link to

First of all, the Deanna Favre Hope Foundation, fitting during this time of breast cancer awareness.
Her appearance on ABC’s Good Morning America
Official Website of Brett Favre
on FOXNews’s ‘On the Record’
an article in the Wisconsin State Journal
Deanna Favre talks about Brett on the Packers Blog
her appearance on Pat Robertson’s CBN

Filed under: Football , breast cancer, Brett Favre, Deanna Favre

Boiled nuts help protect against illness – Yahoo! News

Hot diggetty dog! From Yahoo! News,

For lovers of boiled peanuts, there’s some good news from the health front. A new study by a group of Huntsville researchers found that boiled peanuts bring out up to four times more chemicals that help protect against disease than raw, dry or oil-roasted nuts.

And I loooooove boiled peanuts!

Filed under: After hours , boiled peanuts

Maybe we should pass a law?

Caution: A booster seat can injure you

Once again the public investigation team at the Journal Sentinel takes tips, chases leads and solves problems.

They’re designed to enhance children’s safety, but unsecured, unoccupied seats can become dangerous projectiles in a high-speed crash. [emphasis mine]

Well, d’oh!

Wait, it gets better,

Nothing on the booster seat next to him that June afternoon – no warning label or anything – suggested it should be belted to the car, he said.

Here’s a tip, buddy, USE YOUR BRAIN!

Though some safety experts say it amounts to common sense, buckling in an empty booster seat isn’t the first thing many drivers or passengers consider.

And a warning label would help that?

“It’s something people don’t think about,” said Lynn Clark, George’s wife. “This should go on Good Morning America to tell the world (booster seats) can become projectiles and seriously hurt people.”

Better yet, let’s make a law.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration does not keep data on how often people are injured by unsecured booster seats or even on how often people are hurt by any loose cargo.

They probably didn’t think they would need to. Here’s another,

Cedarburg mom Monika Seefeld wishes warning labels were pasted to all seats.

Her two booster seats were passed down to her by her brother and sister. She didn’t get the instruction manuals.

In May last year Seefeld was in a head-on collision. She had just dropped off her two older kids – both of whom sat in booster seats – and was driving with her 2-year-old son, Tyler.

Upon impact, both booster seats went flying in the passenger compartment. Tyler was struck in the face, and his nose was broken. Scar tissue built up to such a degree that he struggles to breathe through his nose and needs surgery, Seefeld said.

“I wish I would have known about it,” Seefeld, 37, said. “Nobody ever told me. I never really heard of it, and after my accident I warned some people that we should be buckling in the empty booster seats and they were like ‘I never thought of that.’ Virtually 100 percent of the mothers I talked to didn’t do that.”

You really can’t make this stuff up. Thanks P.I. Team.

Filed under: Humorous , car seats, dumb humans

Waukesha County to ease prosecutions for pot?

From the Journal Sentinel,

Joining a movement to decriminalize certain marijuana cases, Waukesha County officials are considering handling minor instances of possession like traffic tickets.

First time offenders would pay a fine and would not get a criminal record.

Many other municipalities and counties in Wisconsin already have taken steps toward decriminalization, but an advocate for relaxed marijuana laws expressed surprise that move would be under consideration in traditionally conservative Waukesha County. [emphases mine]

Although, traditionally, conservatives have been against decriminalization, many have been in favor, most notably William F. Buckley, who, in fact, doubts the effectiveness of the entire war on drugs,

Back in 1965 I sought to pay conventional deference to libertarian presumptions against outlawing any activity potentially harmful only to the person who engages in that activity. I cited John Stuart Mill and, while at it, opined that there was no warrant for requiring motorcyclists to wear a helmet. I was seeking, and I thought I had found, a reason to override the presumption against intercession by the state.

About ten years later, I deferred to a different allegiance, this one not the presumptive opposition to state intervention, but a different order of priorities. A conservative should evaluate the practicality of a legal constriction, as for instance in those states whose statute books continue to outlaw sodomy, which interdiction is unenforceable, making the law nothing more than print-on-paper. I came to the conclusion that the so-called war against drugs was not working, that it would not work absent a change in the structure of the civil rights to which we are accustomed and to which we cling as a valuable part of our patrimony. And that therefore if that war against drugs is not working, we should look into what effects the war has, a canvass of the casualties consequent on its failure to work. That consideration encouraged me to weigh utilitarian principles: the Benthamite calculus of pain and pleasure introduced by the illegalization of drugs. [emphases again mine]

Ok, I think he stopped speaking English there at the end, but you get the point. Milton Friedman was another, although some may consider him libertarian,

I don’t mean to say we could not enforce our laws. In principle, there is no doubt that we could completely eliminate drugs if we were willing to use the methods that Saudi Arabia is willing to use: If we were willing to cut off the hands of a drug offender; if we were willing to impose capital punishment on drug dealers. We are not, and all of us without exception are proud of the fact that we are not willing to use those methods. Those are cures that are clearly worse than the disease. Given that we cannot enforce our own laws, I believe that there is no way to justify behavior by the United States that leads to the destruction of other countries. [emphasis mine]

Dan Quayle,

Congress should definitely consider decriminalizing possession of marijuana… We should concentrate on prosecuting the rapists and burglars who are a menace to society.

George Melloan, asked early last year in the Wall Street Journal,

A large percentage of Americans will probably say no, mainly because they are law-abiding people who maintain high moral and ethical standards and don’t want to surrender to a small minority that flouts the laws, whether in the ghettos of Washington D.C. or Beverly Hills salons. The concern about damaging society’s fabric is legitimate. But another question needs to be asked: Is that fabric being damaged now?

A couple of years back Rich Lowry wrote at The National Review,

Marijuana is not harmless, and its use should be discouraged, but in the same way, say, smoking a pack of cigarettes a day should be discouraged. The criminal-justice system should stay out of it. Twelve states have decriminalized marijuana to varying degrees, fining instead of arresting people for possessing small amounts. They recognize that — as the authors of a new study for the conservative American Enterprise Institute argue — “the case for imposing criminal sanctions for possession of small amounts of marijuana is weak.” [emphasis mine]

Marijuana probably has no more health dangers than tobacco, and may be beneficial in some cases. And it has no more danger than alcohol, both legal drugs.

Filed under: Social issues , conservative, marijuana, Waukesha, Wisconsin

Miller Brewing apologizes

From the Waukesha Freeman,

Miller Brewing Co. on Friday issued a formal apology for the offense caused by the use of Miller logos on a poster promoting the Folsom Street Fair held last month in San Francisco.

Miller Brewing Co. was being boycotted by the Catholic League, a religious civil rights organization, for sponsoring the fair that goes by the nickname “the grand daddy of all leather events.”

Hmmm. Was it the boycott?

The Folsom Street Fair promotes a sexually alternative lifestyle incorporating leather and bondage. Miller has sponsored the event for several years, the brewing company said in a release.

But this year the fair designed a poster depicting the Last Supper with partially naked participants dressed in leather and holding sex toys. The Miller logo adorns the poster.

The company said a failure to adhere to marketing policies led to the inappropriate use of its logo.

Miller said it has taken action to ensure such an incident will not happen again.

The brewer has completed an audit of its marketing procedures for approving local marketing and sales sponsorships and is tightening its compliance procedures.

The company said in a statement it has received assurances from its local distributor in San Francisco and from Folsom Street Events that future marketing materials and other activities will fully comply with Miller’s marketing policies and procedures.

Yep, it was the boycott.

Filed under: Politics , boycott, Cathholic League, Folsom Street Fair, Miller Brewing Company

Wisconsin has a budget

Yeah, it’s not what I would like. But I guess the Democrats aren’t pleased either, so maybe it’s what they call a compromise. Steve Egg and dad29 have the conservative rundown. Owen questions Doyle vetoing items in a budget he negotiated.

And yes, the Frankenstein veto made it’s biennial appearance. Very creative. I wonder how much staff time is taken up finding these things?

Filed under: Politics, Wisconsin , budget, Democrats, Frankenstein veto, Jim Doyle, Republicans, Wisconsin

Back to the Future

From the Daily Mail,

The human race will one day split into two separate species, an attractive, intelligent ruling elite and an underclass of dim-witted, ugly goblin-like creatures, according to a top scientist.

Holy Time Machine, Batman! It sounds like an H. G. Wells book. And who said science doesn’t have original ideas.

And back to the past,

The image of Neanderthals may be in need of a makeover: scientists say at least some of these extinct hominids could have had fair skin and red hair.

Neanderthals lived in Europe and Asia about 400,000 years ago. They were replaced by early modern humans. Researchers have long debated whether the two groups mixed together, though most doubt it. The last evidence for Neanderthals dates from at least 24,000 years ago.

Maybe, but I’ve seen some folks in my time in Papua New Guinea who could physically pass for Neaderthals.

Filed under: Science , future, human beings, Neanderthal

Rasheed says NBA like the WWF – all fake

From Yahoo Sports,

It may have only been the end of the exhibition season, but Detroit Pistons forward Rasheed Wallace was in mid-season form.

“I still dont think they Cavaliers beat us, we beat ourselves,” Wallace said. “And I think we also fell victim to that personal NBA thing where they are trying to make it a world game and get television ratings. They wanted to put their darling in there the NBA Finals and they did, and look what ended up happening.

“This game ain’t basketball anymore, its entertainment,” Wallace said. “Its starting to get like the WWF. There ain’t no real wrestling anymore either. Its all fake.”

Wait, wait, wait. Wrestling is fake?

Filed under: Sports , basketball, NBA, Rasheed Wallace, wrestling, WWF

Iraq war tattoos

An art show at Pasadena City College Art Gallery includes Marine tattoos.

IT’S a canvas of sorts, one threaded through with blue veins, nasty bruises, an explosion of hatch-marks that, upon closer inspection, turn out to be scars. It’s skin — but that’s just one layer of a story.

Read more at the link. Photos of some of the tattoos are here.

Filed under: Iraq War , art, Iraq War, tattoos