They Got It Right (Correct, that is)

Even John Paul Stevens believes there is no problem with Voter ID. Souter, Kennedy and Darth Vader Ginsburg (sorry, she's really scary) think it disenfranchises. The Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel sided with the minority, saying, "there the justices had to ignore who are most likely not to have photo IDs. That would be the elderly, the poor and minority groups, folks who tend to vote Democratic."

OK. Who are these people? I want specific instances. I am willing to take them to a location where they can obtain an ID and I'm even willing to pay for it (alright, you have to live in the greater Milwaukee area). That's how few people I believe are impacted by this. Prove me wrong.

On the other hand, I can tell you who is disenfranchised by having no voter ID. I am. My wife is. My kids are. You are. EVERYONE IS! Any time a vote is cast fraudulently, everyone, Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Green, or "other" is disenfranchised. A fraudulent vote dilutes every other vote.

The argument goes that people who can't get voter ID are largely Democrat voters. I'd argue that those who vote fraudulently are largely Democrat voters as well. Having voted on Milwaukee's predominantly Leftist East Side, I can tell you Democrats intimidate, slash tires and use other means to prevent Republicans from voting. I can also tell you that, historically, Democrats have been more than happy to have the "fraud vote". LBJ in 1964. Chicago anytime. "Walking-around money" out East. Fraud largely comes to an end with Voter ID. That's why Wisconsin's Governor and Leftists oppose it.

TGIF

And the end of (breathlessly, now) "Earth Week".

I can see the conspirators now:

"Ethanol...consumes more energy than it gives up....check.....results in starvation in the
Third World.....check.....actually INCREASES pollution from cars....CHECK!!!!

Can someone tell me what enviro-whacko end-of-the-world scenario has come true? Seems like everything they've done has caused more harm than good. Since we can't drill for our own oil, national interest resides in the Middle East. Two wars, many dead (don't misunderstand me, I support the intervention). There's more than enough oil to support our needs under our own property in the form of oil shale to support our needs for a long time. Off our coasts, too. Plenty of nuclear, too. But ya know...can't do that, either. And coal.....well, the Sierra Club has decided to fight new plants with every weapon at their disposal. But at the same time, let's all use CFL bulbs. I don't know....call me crazy, but if the EPA is telling me to bring in a HAZMAT team if I break one, maybe I should think twice? I'm going out on a limb here, but I forsee a crisis in our future. One that involves landfills, groundwater and mercury. Let's add another here for ethanol. 400 gallons of water to make one gallon of ethanol? While RFK Jr., the current Godfather of environmentalism is decrying the lack of water in the Colorado River (you know, he and his uber-rich family used to play there and their future uber-rich progeny may not get to).

There are days when I feel like I'm in some kind of good-is-bad, bad-is-good Bizzaro-World. I admit to being completely lost in the tidal wave of enviro-mania which has engulfed the world. As long as we think it's enviro-friendly, it is? In spite of what a modicum of common sense tells us? A decade or two ago, we fretted about deforestation. Now we don't care because growing ethanol crops is better? I could be wrong here, but I seem to recall a move to ban fluorescent bulbs many years ago because of their mercury content. It was bad to use paper bags....trees again, you know. Now paper is better? 800 (ok, maybe not quite that many) studies indicating no problem with plastics leaching BPA. One study shows rats may not particularly do well with BPA and we're banning plastic world-wide?

IS ANYBODY GOING TO SHOW SOME COMMON SENSE HERE?

Treason

A General in the Reagan Army, the architect of the Contract With America and a charter member of the VRWC has gone over to The Dark Side. Mr. Newt appeared in a propaganda commercial with Speaker Pelosi last night to push the Leftist Environmental Global Warming Agenda. What did they have to pay him to betray the movement?

Time Magazine, however, continued to fulfill the promise of the Lefty agenda with their latest cover. Equating tree-hugging with the Heroes of Iwo Jima is no surprise, but still a new low for Time. My Marine Corps friends are livid.

The Barbarians are at the gate and we are welcoming them with open arms. Drink the Kool-Aid and plan on life getting harder.

Unintended Consequences

Beer: A lovely Cherry Wheat that should be ready to drink by June 1. I expect it will be like drinking a cherry pie (but not too sweet).

Bicycle: Reasonably good weather. 30 miles tomorrow.

VRWC: Since my Elitist, Leftist friends out there know better than I how terrible "fossil fuels" are, it's becoming increasingly difficult to afford energy. As a cost savings, I have taken a significant amount of wood from a friend to use as fuel next winter to keep the wife and I warm (we can make our own heat, but only for so long....I'm old, for cryin' out loud). So, instead of using clean-burning natural gas or electricity from power plants that control their emissions, I will use smoky, unrestricted wood to heat my house. Just as those in the third world are using wood or dried dung to do so. It's amazing how smart some claim to be, then turn out to be so short sighted.

Tuesday is "Earth Day". I plan to have a carbon footprint as big as Algores.

So.....what else?

I've shown my VRWC side and now you're probably wondering, "What about the Beer and Bicycles?" Funny you should mention that. Looks like the weather here is going to clear up and more importantly, warm up. Looking out the window, I see the street has dried, but it's still only 32 degrees (that's "F" & cold for my metric friends). I need about another 10 to even consider getting in the saddle. I've been out 4 times in two weeks for a total of about 100 miles. Last time out though, I ended up with a flat. Normally, I'd fix it on the side of the road, but it's been too chilly - "cooler near the lake". So I called in the "sag wagon" and fixed it yesterday. I'm now ready for the warmer weather. Normal ride is about 20-or-so miles during the week, with (much) longer rides on the weekends.

Beer. Tough to brew an ale when it's this cold. But the house isn't quite cold enough to brew a lager, either. And hops...if you can get them are pretty expensive these days. Grains ain't cheap, either, thanks to the wrong-headed energy policy that puts our food supply into our gas tanks (there's a little VRWC for ya). That notwithstanding, I've worked hard to make a cherry wheat happen. Yesterday, I added the cherries. Next week, I'll be clarifying it and the following week, I should be bottling. I'll let you know how it goes.

Hey....stop in and see my friend Phelony Jones. I'd link it, but I fear the anti-spam robots.

Glad to be Back

As anyone who has visited this spot in the last month knows, I've been on hiatus because some automatic anti-spam robot thought this was a spam blog.....or was it a conspiracy by the Church of the Environmental God? No matter. I'm back. Incidentally, I'm not smart enough to develop a spam blog.

I notice that inhabitants of the third-world are starving again. Hmmm.....gigantic corn surplus gone because of the ethanol debacle......other grains used in place of corn......more acreage planted in corn.....more corn used for ethanol.......blah, blah, blah......less surplus grain to feed the third world. Notice that the MSM never bothers to mention the billions of bushels of corn going to ethanol when they talk about this. Just the, "people are starving, feel bad for them" template. Sounds like a "Stuff White People Like" thing. White People like feeling bad about starving people. Don't actually do anything about it. Just feel bad. Oh....and "Free Tibet". Do some protesting and stuff, but don't actually do anything.

There are days.......