Sunday, October 31, 2010

Overheard at the Counter: How to Train Your Dragon

John Steppenwolf says, "Last night we saw How to Train Your Dragon."









"Ah, so that's what the kids're calling it these days!" says Niall Carter.



"Don't be a sicko," says Verble. "It's a beautiful movie."












"I was really surprised," says Steppenwolf, "because I wasn't expecting much of anything, I thought 'Oh yeah, here'll be another kinda cool kid flick', but this turned out to be MOST excellent!"


"So, you're recommending it then?" asks Niall.








"I'm not just recommending it, I'm gonna give it out as Christmas presents!"









"Then I can wait another month, right?" Niall says.









"Well," Verble says, "that all depends on whether you're on his Christmas list."









Niall looks over at his friend, who takes a sip of his cappucino and says, "I've got a list, my friend . . . and I'm checking it twice."

Saturday, October 30, 2010

http://www.leftinalabama.com/diary/7242/im-not-voting-republican

Overheard at Booth 4
















Proposal: Of course elections are a battle between the forces of good and evil - why do you think they always have it on the first Tuesday in November? Right after Halloween, when demons try to crawl out Hell to fight the saints on the next morning, which is All Saints' Day?
























Response: I thought they did it because everyone is still loaded up on candy and making plans for Thanksgiving, so that they could get us to vote while we're on a sugar high and otherwise disengaged.

Friday, October 29, 2010

Found on a parchment on Table 5


John Steppenwolf picks it up and says, "Looks a little Byzantine to me."
"I like it," says Niall Carter. "Looks like it might make a good henna."
"You can be slightly weird at times."
"Not for me, dude! I meant my wife!"

Thursday, October 28, 2010

Overheard at Table 1

"You know, it freak'incredible that the Republicans could have allowed this money grab for eight years, ballooning this bubble with the banks ripping us off of OUR money, and then when the tsunami came rushing in all our jobs just got swept out with the crashing waves - and then the same guys who allowed this to happen than reFUSE to pay a few pennies out to the same unemployed masses that they, by their own actions, creATEd! SHEEZ on a double stick! Talk about kicking people when they're down!"






"What I hate is that all the people are out of work because these businesses, the first thing they do to keep their CEO and CFOs in jets is to lay off their workforce. Then the Republicans turn around and call them lazy. It's like running a guy down with your car and then screaming at him for wanting to go to the hospital."






"It's insane. They're insane. We're all insane!"






Monday, October 25, 2010

Overheard at Table 3: The Human Centipede

and there's this movie, called the human centipede, and i swear it's so stupid, if i tell people about it, they'll probably wanna go see it, just because i told em not to

what's it about

it's about just that, the human centipede, there's this guy and he takes three people and he
well he
well he kinda
sews em together

sews em together?

yeah, and all the time I'm thinkin this girl's mother must be real proud of her, when she got a call from her daughter saying hey mom, i'm gonna be in this movie, and the mom said prob'ly that's great honey, what kind of movie, well mom it's a movie where my head gets sewn into another girl's butt!

Overread at Table 5: These Days

a journal, with "364" scratched on the cover and at the top of every page, lying open to this entry, simply titled

298.

These days are not for lovers, these
days are not for passion, romance, flowers, scented
poetry, rhyme, a soft glance a touch a look,
nothing like that any more, no,
nothing like that for these days:
these days are for listening to radio talk shows
in the mornings, hearing the torrent of
women, confessing to their affairs, "I'm a nurse, I
make good money, I've cheated on my husband
so many times in our five years of marriage I
just can't count them all,"Why don't you leave him
then?"Why would I wanna do that? I mean I love him
and all that, he just doesn't give me

what these other men give me."

These days, these days are not for sanity,
no longer any easy discourse, no longer any
passionate speeches in public houses about honor
and fraternity and justice and peace, and
representation and noble change, forward advancement
in government and thought and public morale, no
these are the days for vitriol, a christian pastor
from Dallas calling for violent revolution
if the tea party doesn't win back Congress next week,

no, these days are long past intelligence,
long past knowledge or wisdom or rational thought:
these days are for vitriol and black poison words
and blood and
the pestilence of ignorance
that eats against our
collective soul

like a cancer.

And this night, my wife tells me
not to worry about these days:
These days must pass
for what must/will happen
to pass,
these days are part of the will
of the must of
what must
be
/being, and
will have been, and then

is.

And then she goes to brush her teeth,
get herself ready for bed,

ready for me to tuck her in.



This night.


Good night.

Sunday, October 24, 2010

Overheard at Booth 1

James Targoyl: Am I the only guy in America who thinks NPR was well within their rights to fire Juan Williams?

Lydia Schusterman: Yes.

James Targoyl: Am I wrong for thinking that since they work for the public they want to be fair and impartial?

Tully Cargill: Yes.

James Targoyl: But, am I way off base in thinking that they should have the ability to determien who they want representing them?

Harold Tillerman: Yes.

James Targoyl: But why, why am I so wrong?

Lydia Schusterman: Because only strident egomaniacal hatemongering right wing selfish vitriolic bags of sheer evil have the right to decide what happens in American media. And anybody who tries to be neutral is just feeding the liberal agenda. Down with fairness and decency! Down with just commentary! Down with decent neutrality! Up with the vitriol!

More hate! More hate! More hate!

James: Wow. You guys are a tough crowd!

Saturday, October 23, 2010

Overheard at Booth 3: at or around 13

there is a girl, a young girl, about thirteen, she is sitting at the booth waiting for her mom to come back with the steaming mocha lattes, and the girl is thinking about petting her cat, Trisket, and how she can't really pet her cat because she's out of Zyrtec and her dad hasn't bought any new Zyrtec from CVS on his way home from work last night like he said he would, and he said he would give her five dollars for cleaning out the back toyshed, but he hasn't given her the five dollars yet and she has a party to go to at Caitlin's house this Saturday and she hopes that her mom will let her go, but she knows she won't if she finds out that she just flunked her math test, but it's blended fractions and fractions are hard, especially when you make them into algebra with the x and the y and all that and

there is the girl's mother, sitting down in the booth with a mocha latte for each of them, and she asks her daughter, you look very concentrative - what've you been thinking?

and the girl says, nothing really, and she shrugs a little and takes a sip of her drink.

Tuesday, October 19, 2010

At the Counter

Niall says, "Verble, I urge you to read this,"
and Verble replies,
"Anybody who uses the imperative 'urge'
certainly gets my acquiescence!"
"Even if it seems contrary to
how you feel about
non-violence and Christian thought?" asks Niall.
"Hey," says Verble,
"you used the word 'urge'
you didn't say
'gotta believe it!'"

"OK, then, I got the link right here on my iPad . . ."


http://www.everystudent.com/wires/justwar.html

Left at Booth 1

This paper was left at booth one. Apparently it is an assignment for an economics class. You have found this paper left on the booth seat as you slide in with your cappucino and croissant. So, you decide to read it while you wait for your laptop to boot up.

Econ 2304

Assignment #3: Heritage Foundation rankings of two countries for potential investment


My company will manufacture “net refractors,” which is a thin “webbing” that will cross the lenses still in place in many unused lighthouses across both coasts of the United States and Canada. My “net refractors” will transform each of these unused lenses into very powerful transmitting devices that will connect with all satellite systems and all communications around the world. Being almost invisible, they will also not detract from the natural beauty of the lenses, and they will need no maintenance, requiring only minimal additional personnel in the lighthouses. Plus, when in place, each of these lighthouses is guaranteed even further protection from possible dismantling, for, along with their historical value, they are now again generating income.

Since I’ve already determined that conditions in Houston (where I live) will be cost-prohibitive to start such a factory, I am looking outside the States, and because of my family and professional ties, have settled on either Ireland or El Salvador as a location to build my factory. Let us also assume that other factors are equal, such as the cost of transportation of the product from either place to the States will be equal.

OK, let’s see what the Heritage Foundation ranking has to say about my possible choices, going over each factor:

#1. Business Freedom
The world average to start a business is 35 days. In Ireland I might be able to start it in about 13 days, and in El Salvador, around 17 or 18 days. From what I’ve read, if I have to file bankruptcy, it’s a relatively straightforward deal in Ireland, although in El Salvador, bankruptcy is lengthy but not costly. To me, that means if I do go under, I’d be spending a lot more time in El Salvador than if I was in Ireland. Personally, that just depends on what type of beach/ocean I prefer: sandy/warm or rocky/crisp.

#2. Trade Freedom
As part of the European Union, Ireland’s tariff rate is set by European policies and had a weighted average of 1.3 percent in 2008 (El Salvador’s weighted average was 3.1); however, while both of them score in the 80th percentile range (87 and 83 % respectively), from what I understand of the description, Ireland has more mercurial and difficult laws regarding trade, a few obscure restrictions on imports of certain goods and services.

El Salvador appears a little more straightforward and open with their restrictive and somewhat restrictive trade practices, particularly on their sanitary and phytosanitary barriers. I have to admit, I had to look up “phytosanitary” – which refers to the regulations surrounding the import of plants and other agricultural goods. Since I’m not in the agricultural business, I wouldn’t think that would sway my decision; however, what this means is that there may be certain non-tariff restrictions on whatever materials I might need to bring into the country as part of my overhead.

#3. Fiscal Freedom
I’ve always been aware of the high income tax rate of Ireland – I mean, I used to live there, and so I have a slight taste for understanding how 20% of the people could be on the dole at any given time! I was pleasantly surprised to discover that the corporate tax rate caps out at about 12.5 % - compared to 25% in El Salvador, which is still about average in the world. Ireland has a lot higher percentage of tax rate as part of GDP, but to be honest, I rather expected that, in the Socialist bent that is what we so dearly love (and hate!) about Europe.

#4. Government Spending
The Heritage Foundation tanks Ireland with a 61% rating for government spending – but remember what I said about Socialism? To me, that was to be expected, and personally I take it more as an irritant rather than a prohibitive factor. But that’s probably just me not thinking like a Capitalist! In Ireland, government spending is 35.7% of GDP. The population is aging and Ireland just had their bubble burst – and the slowdown in economic activity is creating a greater fiscal deficit. It may not be much comfort to know that the little known philosopher, Giuseppe Salinghetti, once wrote that “Ireland is a country where the people know how to make personal wealth out of public poverty.”

El Salvador, on the other hand, is low in government expenditures. Some of those liberal types would be quick to point out that this is typical of Latin American countries and is evidence that the plutocrats who actually run those countries care nothing for their people, but those liberals just love to spoil the fun, don’t they? There IS a lot of privatization in the country, but there are a few monopolies in transportation, banking, and electricity distribution. I’ll have to keep that in mind when determining how much I want to pay to move goods around the country and how to keep the utilities going in my factory. Looks to me like it’s a choice between the Irish government or a few rich elite in El Salvador.

#5. Monetary Freedom
Both are in the 70’s of the Heritage Foundation ranking, with Ireland a bit higher, possibly due to the lower inflation in Ireland. Ireland has definitely benefited from being a member of the Euro Zone, which does attempt to assist its member in controlling inflation through subsidies. Also, back to what I mentioned about Socialism – Ireland also influences prices through state-owned enterprises.

El Salvador, during the 1990’s, tried to ward off inflation by dumping their currency (the colon) for the American dollar. This helped for a time, but inflation has still risen recently, more than in Ireland, averaging 6.3 percent between 2006 and 2008, according to the Heritage Foundation. The government controls the price of public transport, electricity, and sets prices for distribution services. All in all, it seems these countries are roughly equal in monetary freedom, the deciding factor being the inflation rate, which to me, seems like could easily be swayed by future economic events.

#6. Investment Freedom
95% for Ireland compared to 75% for Ireland – that’s quite a wide disparity. Let’s find out why:
Apparently anybody can own land, whether you’re Irish or not. That was actually a surprise to me, because I had always thought that the Irish had a strong tie to the land and land ownership, given that their own land had been stolen from them for 600 years under British rule. Perhaps that left them with a national conscience that understands the impermanence of land ownership. Whatever the reason, the regulations are apparently easy to understand, and land owners get equal treatment, both foreign and domestic alike. Perhaps I haven’t accounted for the stereotypical good nature of the Irish character. Or maybe I need to think more like a businessman than a romantic. Oh well.

In El Salvador, it seemed similar in that foreign and domestic investors are given equal treatment under the law. If I start with fewer than 10 employees in my net-refractor factory, the government wants a plan from me detailing how I plan to increase employment. However, I’m thinking I can employ at least 100, and I don’t know if even that size will face extra regulations.

On the other hand, I know that regulatory agencies are understaffed and inexperienced. I may be able to use that to my advantage (but don’t tell anybody you heard that from me!) The HF admits “bureaucratic procedures are relatively streamlined, although commercial law enforcement remains inefficient and inconsistent.”

But here’s the kicker: “El Salvador’s 1983 constitution allows the government to expropriate private property for reasons of public utility or social interest, and indemnification can take place either before or after the fact. No single domestic or foreign entity can own more than 245 hectares of land. Rural lands may not be acquired by foreigners from countries where Salvadorans do not enjoy the same right.”

Hm. That’s food for thought. Imminent domain? In a country the size of Massachussetts? restricting how much land I can buy? Just because I’m American? No wonder they only got a 75%!

#7. Financial Freedom
Ireland 80%/El Salvador 70% Ireland had a heck of a time with recent banking failure, and the government has practically privatized the largest bank (AIB), while El Salvador, on the other hand, has a banking system that is very well capitalized and hasn’t suffered great fluctuations in the housing market. I guess there is something to be said for being a small country tucked away inside a volcanic ring. In Ireland, the government is still injecting capital into the banking system, and the latest reports I’ve heard (independent of the Heritage Foundation) still lump Ireland in with other struggling EU countries, such as Greece, Spain, and Portugal.

I wondered why, then, the HF gave Ireland a full ten point lead over El Salvador, especially since it was speaking highly of its “robust growth” – then it caught me: “Non-bank financial institutions are limited by the lack of personal savings and low disposable income.” Basically, the people are still much poorer there than in Ireland. Basically, we’re talking a risk factor here, I believe – with the belief that powerhouses like Germany won’t let a fellow member fail, but El Salvador really has no safety net, after all.

#8. Property Rights
Here’s the kicker: Ireland gets 90% and El Salvador comes in at a 50% in Property Rights. This might be a deal-breaker: in Ireland, it seems, intellectual property is well-protected by an efficient and fair legal system – accessible to foreign investors (I refer to the previous question about the land!)

El Salvador, on the other hand, has a legal system that appears to be a little cumbersome and slow, which makes me concerned that somebody might rip off my idea and start a factory on the other side of the Rio Lempa where I plan to build my factory! Basically, the gist is that the judges can be bought, which I hate to say, has been often factored as a cost of doing business in Central America. Private parties can buy the judges, and even if I might be able to get a ruling in my favor, enforcing a ruling might be another matter indeed. That makes me think long and hard about investing there, especially in a new venture, with my brand new product.

#9. Freedom from Corruption
As an extension of #8, El Salvador tanks this category with only 39% score. Corruption is apparently rampant, whereas it’s apparently minimal in Ireland. Of course, El Salvador has laws against bribery, but everyone knows that these are paper tigers at best. Ireland, on the other hand, not only investigates corruption, but has “ratified the OECD Anti-Bribery Convention and is a member of the OECD Working Group on Bribery and the Group of States Against Corruption.”

Again, I think we really have to look into cultural development to try to understand the reasons: Ireland faced centuries of being robbed of their land, their language, their names, and their identity by an invading power (England), and so it may be a natural course of democratic development for the collective country to desire a freedom from corrupting powers – especially given that such pillaging of the country could have only taken place by complicit Irish working in collusion with the English landowners.

El Salvador, like other Latin American countries, was basically founded by a cadre of wealthy invading Spaniards who only wanted to make money, and those who settled forced the native population into slave labor, and those who weren’t absorbed were killed off, to the end that any governmental structure was built on military and monetary power, with the ingrained political consciousness that to rule means to take all that you can and the people can move aside or get run over.

But then, those are just speculations as to why – what I have to deal with is, do I want to place my business in a place where I might have to be paying off officials just to keep the lights running, the trucks delivering, and the inspectors looking the other way?
The answer, hopefully, lies in

#10. Labor Freedom
Quoted verbatim from the Heritage Foundation:

Ireland: Labor regulations are flexible. The non-salary cost of employing a worker is low, and dismissing an employee is relatively easy. Restrictions on work hours are flexible.

El Salvador: Relatively flexible labor regulations enhance employment opportunities and productivity growth. Restrictions on work hours are not rigid. The non-salary cost of employing a worker is low, but dismissing an employee is difficult.

Hm. So, in Ireland, if a guy comes in five minutes late and all drunk, I can fire him – after all, dismissing an employee is easy. And I can apparently make them work overtime, hopefully without having to pay them. It’s even better in El Salvador, because the lax labor laws mean I can get out of them all I can get. I mean, I already know for a fact that I can pay a Salvadoran in the capital $2.00/hour, when I’d have to pay the same worker here $8.00/hour – that’s why I’m going out of the country in the first place, right? So maybe I can’t fire a Salvadoran as easily as I can in Ireland, but boy, I can work them to death and there won’t be anybody there to stop me! My goodness, it’s wonderful to be a Capitalist, isn’t it?

Flexible labor regulations = productivity growth. Isn’t it wonderful to live in a world where people can publish such callous disregard for their fellow human beings with such impunity! Heritage Foundation . . . thank you for being so honest so that any thinking person can know exactly what you are!

As for me, I’ve made my decision: I’m going to build my factory in El Salvador. No, not so I can pillage the people, but because I live in Houston and my wife is from El Salvador, which means we have a reason to fly down there almost every week! (and with the money we make, we can go vacation in Ireland!) Plus, El Salvador has great economic potential. If they could just get rid of their gang problem, that would be a great start, but the people are known to be hard workers, and perhaps I can give them wages somewhat slightly above the nominal rate, and perhaps get some skilled hands from the workforce.

But mainly, all in all, it’s because my wife likes to see her family and her home country often, and you know what they say, “When the wife is happy, everybody’s happy!”

And that’s just good economics!

Thank you everybody, good night!

Monday, October 18, 2010

Overheard at the Counter: Puns for the Literarti

Kid walks up to the counter and says, "I've got 26 puns in my head," and Verble says, "it this some sort of a joke?"

and the kid says, "No, I was just next door at SHR, listening to John Canada and Eric Johannson and these are all the ones I could remember! They call them . . .



Subject: puns for the educated mind...

1.The fattest knight at King Arthur's round table was Sir Cumference.He acquired his size from too much pi.

2.I thought I saw an eye doctor on an Alaskan island, but it turned outto be an optical Aleutian .

3.She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still.

4.A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class, because itwas a weapon of math disruption.

5.No matter how much you push the envelope, it'll still be stationery.

6.A dog gave birth to puppies near the road and was cited for littering.

7.A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in LinoleumBlownapart.

8.Two silk worms had a race. They ended up in a tie.

9.A hole has been found in the nudist camp wall. The police are lookinginto it.

10.Time flies like an arrow. Fruit flies like a banana.

11.Atheism is a non-prophet organization.

12.Two hats were hanging on a hat rack in the hallway. One hat said tothe other: 'You stay here; I'll go on a head.'

13.I wondered why the baseball kept getting bigger. Then it hit me.

14.A sign on the lawn at a drug rehab center said: 'Keep off the Grass.'

15.The midget fortune-teller who escaped from prison was a small mediumat large.

16.The soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now aseasoned veteran.

17.A backward poet writes inverse.

18.In a democracy it's your vote that counts. In feudalism it's yourcount that votes.

19.When cannibals ate a missionary, they got a taste of religion.

20.If you jumped off the bridge in Paris, you'd be in Seine .

21.A vulture boards an airplane, carrying two dead raccoons. Thestewardess looks at him and
says, 'I'm sorry, sir, only one carrionallowed per passenger.'

22.Two fish swim into a concrete wall. One turns to the other and says'Dam!'

23.Two Eskimos sitting in a kayak were chilly, so they lit a fire in thecraft. Unsurprisingly it sank, proving once again that you can't haveyour kayak and heat it too.

24.Two hydrogen atoms meet. One says, 'I've lost my electron.' The othersays 'Are you sure?' The first replies, 'Yes, I'm positive.'

25.Did you hear about the Buddhist who refused Novocain during a root canal?His goal: transcend dental medication.

26.There was the person who sent ten puns to friends, with the hope thatat least one of the puns would make them laugh. No pun in ten did.

Sunday, October 17, 2010

Overheard at Table 4: Signs


I finally, after all these years, saw M Night Shyamalan's Signs. Remember when it first came out. Lots of people liked it. Not as much as they liked The Sixth Sense, but they liked it. Can't remember which movie came out first - Signs or The Sixth Sense. Think it was Signs, but I can't be sure.


It's good. Really good. In fact, it is when sci-fi is at its best. When it just lets the story unfold and doesn't try to spell everything out or try to explain itself away. It's just a story of this family at this particular time. It's kind of like Orson Wells's radio adaptation of H.G. Wells's War of the Worlds, in the way that the whole thing unfolds. I also got kind of a glimpse of Area 9, or whatever was the name of that movie with the alien ship in South Africa - Precinct 9, was it? But that movie was later, so it probably had a little bit of homage to this one.


It also reminded me of Lady in the Water, another of Shyamalan's movies, in the idea that everything happens for a reason, that everything happens for a purpose, there is a meaning in each thing that we do. That's also a Christian ethic. Taken by some to believe that we can't fight destiny, but that's an overreach and really misses the point. I think Shyamalan gets the point. We make our own destiny. We just have to see the signs. In our own lives. Take everything that we learn. Realize there's a point to what we do, what we train for, everything that happened to us in the past will help us at that one point when we need it most.


I don't know, but I think Shyamalan had John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany in mind when he was writing the script for this one. Not sure, but this movie was about a decade after the book. He could have read it. Don't know. It's not a plot inspiration, no, they're totally different stories. But the idea behind it. The idea of purpose. Of everything in your life being interconnected. That's definitely there.


Signs. Makes you think. Makes you stop and reconsider every detail of the movie. This guy is the only director I can think of out there today making movies like this. There were a lot in the past. We study them in school. If you take the classes. I think he'll be one in the future.


Ever see The Village? Still his best. People hated it. They wanted a horror movie. He gave 'em something totally different.


Wanna watch it sometimes? We need a Shyamalan movie marathon. That'd be cool.

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Overheard at Table 3: NRA supporting Democrats

Billy: Didja hear the news that the NRA's supporting a whole bunch'a Dems this November?

Joe: Yeah, but then they came out and said that they usually support incumbents.

Jim: That and the spokesman said that they always weigh it carefully and if both candidates have the same stance on gun rights, then they go to the incumbent.

Bob: So you don't think it shows that they're playing some sort of game?

Billy: I think it shows that they're nobody bi-

Joe: -which makes me wish that other groups would be the same, you know, standing for what they stand for and not playing one side against the other.

Jim: Yeah, didn't these yay-hoos promise us two years ago that they would work TOGETHER? Man, all I ever hear is one side talking flak about the other and how they're never getting anything done.

Bob: And we're all caught in the middle.

Billy: Yeah, I feel like the American Public's the kids and the Dems and Republicans are the parent who hate each other.

Joe: And they're trying to make it work.

Jim: For the sake of the kids?

Bob: Well, that's what they say at least.

Billy: Nah, it's got to be something more twisted than that. The kids have been neglected for too long.

Joe: I got it.

Jim: What?

Bob: What do you got?

Billy: Yeah, tell us.

Joe: They aren't fighting for us kids . . . .


. . . they just each want the house. The house, the land, the property, the cars, the boat. All of it.



Jim: Any chance they'll settle out of court?


Bob: Don't think so - not with their eyes on THIS prize!

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Overheard at Table One

Sam: the problem with all of us today is that we have grown indolent from the ceaseless bacchanalia of our own neophilia.

Lila: i'd twitter that but twitter's so boring.



Monday, October 11, 2010

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Overheard at Table Two: Renaissance Festivals

One says "I love this time of year! Renaissance Festivals in the air! Lisa and I just got back from one yesterday, opening weekend, in Plantersville"



Another "How was it?"



One "It was pretty good - although I have to admit the one we went to last year in Muskogee was better"



Still another "How so?"



One "Well, even though the one in Muskogee was smaller, it stayed more on target, I guess you could say. Plantersville was a little all over the place, with this bleedthrough of Ancient Rome, blackwinged Incubi, Dickensien clad haunted house barkers . . . Muskogee was much more on target, and had much more cast wandering through the lanes and the byways. I remember last year I got to talk to 'King Henry' and the guy was spot-on in character - it was brilliant!"



Yet another "I dunno, I never much go for the Rennie Fests. They're never quite like I remember them good ole days!"



Yet another's significant other "Ay luv, these are much better than them days! At least now the dirt in the streets is just that! Dirt! In the old days all the streets were a runnin' stink of fiss and peecees!"

Friday, October 1, 2010

Overheard at the Counter


Niall Carter is complaining to Betty Seawall, "I just don't understand these Republicans running on this uber 'small government' ticket, I mean, it used to be understandable, because what they meant was 'lean' government, but now with all this teabagger crud, these guys are running on a stump of 'no government' or 'dismantle the government' - but they WANT to be IN the government! It's insane! Who would want to be part of something they want to destroy? It's like if I were to join a country club just so I could set the golf course on fire!"