Well, I didn't get to post anything later on Monday or at all on Tuesday. I'm going to try to make up for lost time today.

In local news, I just received a phone call from the head of the Kalkaska AYSO and my girls will probably get kicked off their field again this Saturday. The reason for this is simple: Paul, the director of the Kaliseum (and, by his actions one would think, the owner, although the Kalkaska taxpayers that are still paying for the place might take issue), has booked some league from out of town on our field every Saturday. I knew this a while back, and just as I figured, no one has the balls to tell me about it up front. The last time, they used the excuse that our original schedule had our home games on September 17 as tentative and they just assumed that meant we weren't playing. I wonder what the bullshit excuse will be this time, eh Mark? Just how far have you shoved your head up Paul's ass, anyway?

Did I mention I'm pissed off?

Paul has a problem with me because I fried is ass for his habitual violation of child labor law, so in typical Chicken-Shit-Paul fashion, he is taking it out on a bunch of high school girls. Way to go, Paul; you da man. Or not. Tonight I will be drafting a nasty letter to all of the parents telling them exactly what their $65 is buying. AYSO money built that field, and Paul is now booking out-of-town teams to play on it when AYSO already has it reserved, because the league pays. Not to AYSO, but to the Kaliseum. AYSO, of course, figures they already paid to use the field by paying to build it. I'm sure the higher-ups in AYSO will be very interested to hear all about this.

I'm about two seconds from being All Done with anything and anyone in Kalkaska.

In other news, nothing is really going on. I sat for two hours last night sorting through junk mail from just the last few days. I'd just burn the lot of it, but about once every three days, something shows up that I actually care about. So I have to go through the (literally) three-foot-high stack piece by piece. There are a lot of other things I could have used that two hours for. I'm not sure what the answer is. I've asked the vendors to not send me their crap because I'm just not interested. They send it anyway. Most of the catalogs are from companies I have never heard of, nor would I ever do business with. Yet the catalogs Just. Keep. Coming. You would think that after sending me a 300-page catalog every few months for the last six years, and never getting a single order, that someone would get a clue. And the newspapers. I have no idea what happened recently but all of a sudden my mailbox is jammed with papers from Elk Rapids, Bellaire, Mancelonna, and on and on and on. I get at least one of these a day. It started with the Bellaire paper. I received my complimentary copy when it started up, and was told I would get two more. They also gave me prices for a subscription if I wanted it to continue. I never gave them a dime, but I am still receiving my weekly "complimentary copy" over nine months after the first issue. In that time, the Bellaire paper has been joined by a nearly identical paper from every wide spot in the road in a fifty-mile radius of our home. Interesting business model to say the least. I suspect my tax dollars are backing this in some way.

I said all that to say this: last night while I was sorting junk mail, I watched a movie (Constantine) that I didn't order, and that Columbia House had delivered because I had lost the reply card in the stacks of junk mail that come to our house. It wasn't bad, but I wouldn't have bought it, given a choice.

I've built up a pile of links over the last few days and I don't have time to do them justice. Remember that just because I link to something doesn't mean that I necessarily agree with it, just that it is asking questions we really need to think about.

Most long-time Republicans have taken to calling the Republican Party the Stupid Party, largely because key members in the hierarchy seemed incapable of firing a pistol without hitting their own foot. The current administration is typical. In spite of controlling the White House, the Congress and the Supreme Court, nothing seems to go their way. Well, it looks like it goes deeper than just the party leadership. It seems the entire conservative movement is cursed with a bad case of the stupids. When any movement starts losing people like Dr. Pournelle, it ain't long for this world.

Fred Reed has a new essay up at his place: Whimpering About Poverty: Maybe You Should Try the Real Thing. Real poverty in America is rare. What we mostly have is lazy people making bad choices compounded by sheer stupidity. Why should I spare one second of pity on someone so stupid that they can't figure out that the way out of the ghetto isn't becoming a pregnant crack-whore at 14? I hear a lot of yammering about the plight of the poor in our inner-cities (never mind that there is a higher rate of poverty in rural Kalkaska), when all I see is self-inflicted blight.

You can always tell when a stupid person knows that what he is doing is stupid. He will invariably claim to be just doing his job. Arrest, confiscation of property, time in jail, lawyers, court appearances, all by the book. All the forms filled out in triplicate with the pink copy filed with all the other pink copies, and the blue copy filed with all the other blue copies, and the white copy filed with all the other white copies. And what dastardly deeds lead to these charges? Well, from what we can tell, this man is a terrorist because:

a) He was wearing a rain coat. In London. In the rain. Go figure. I thought rain gear was legally required before leaving home in England.
b) He checked his voice mail on his cell phone. Imagine. Paying $50 - $100 a month for a high-tech communication tool, and having the audacity to use it. People these days.
c) He arrived early for his train and sat quietly waiting for it. If this were New York, this definitely would stick out among the diversity wearing pants ten sizes too big, wandering around shouting obscenities at no one, and defecating on the floor. But I understand that in a London tube station, it is quite common to see people arrive early and wait quietly for the next train.
d) He works for a company that had recently sent out all the new-hires on some sort of break-the-ice assignment to take pictures of local land marks. OK, so on the dork-o-meter, this ranks up there with drumming circles, but I'm not sure it qualifies as potential terrorism.
c) He speaks with a (European) accent. Just like all those terrorists from 9/11.

My God!!!! Break out the pitch forks and torches!! Yes, I know. This was London, not New York. But for forty years, I've watched the United States follow right along behind England. Sometimes it's only a few months lag, other times it may be four or five years. (Aside: Evangelicals in the US may want to keep this in mind while looking at the fate of mega-churches in England. I'll give you a hint; the plywood industry is doing nicely.)

China is heading back to space. This time, there will be two astronauts, and they will be leaving the first module of a space station on orbit. The Chinese are not just replaying Mercury. They are out to eat our lunch and we are doing everything we can to help them. (shrug) Sometimes, you just get what you deserve (see above rant on "poverty").

Two from the AnalPhilosopher: Women and Careers, and Crying Wolf. The only thing keeping the Stupid Party in power is that the Democrats have become the Cry Baby Party.

And Vox Day takes on every guy's favorite topic: Breasts. That and the new found liberation women seem to feel about displaying them anywhere and everywhere. Tell me again, how exactly was women's lib supposed to be about eliminating the exploitation of women?

And that is all I have time for today.