Wisconsin is broke....gimmee a break and gimmee a bonus

maybe this slipped by some folks last week. It was a Saturday, after all and the front page of my local newspaper had a story about "Thirty Rabbits found in 'Horrific State'."

The rabbits were crammed into filthy cages and subject to a deplorable amount of neglect.

Animal abuse is serious and should be reported, but down in the middle of page 3 was a story about the State of Wisconsin awarding bonuses of $8 million to managers of the State Pension fund....despite the fact that pension payments to retirees has decreased.

State pension fund managers get $8 million in bonuses

By Associated Press

March 23, 2013

Madison - Wisconsin's pension fund managers were given more than $8 million in bonuses as a reward for strong investment returns, nearly double what they received last year, according to records released to The Associated Press on Friday.
The bonuses come as most retirees are about to see their pension payments decrease in May for the fifth year in a row due to effects of the 2008 recession. The bonuses were approved by the State of Wisconsin Investment Board on Wednesday and finalized Friday, said the board's spokeswoman, Vicki Hearing.
Twenty-nine people will receive six-figure bonuses. All but six employees of the board, 139 out of 145 workers, will receive some bonus. Seventy-four employees will get bonuses of at least $25,000.
Nearly everyone receiving a six-figure bonus is a money manager. Roughly half of the agency's employees, 66 out of 145, are money managers.
Of the six who didn't get bonuses, four were ineligible and two didn't meet performance standards, Hearing said.
Chief Investment Officer David Villa is getting the largest bonus of nearly $421,000. Two managing directors, Bill McCorkle and Ron Mensink, were the next highest with bonuses of nearly $287,000 and about 282,000, respectfully.
The bonus for the retirement system's executive director was split between the retiring office holder who left in June, Keith Bozarth, and his successor, Michael Williamson. Bozarth will get about $181,000, and Williamson will receive $241,000.

 I guess the local animal shelter is doing ok trying to find homes for the rabbits.  It is Easter.  I wonder if anyone could find a new home for Scott Walker and his crony pols and ass kissers.

Good Friday Refreshment !

1
Bless the beer and pass the pretzels!

Clothes belong in closets, not people

WASHINGTON — A majority of the justices on Wednesday questioned the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act of 1996, as the Supreme Court took up the volatile issue of same-sex marriage for a second day.

Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, widely considered the swing vote on the divided court, joined the four liberals in posing skeptical questions to a lawyer defending the law, which defines marriage as the union of a man and a woman for the purposes of more than 1,000 federal laws and programs. 

~ NY Times

Well.......... my first thought about gay marriage, well OK.  This 'Defense  Of Marriage' thing was pretty stupid anyway.  I mean, if you really want to DEFEND marriage...... outlaw Mothers-in-Law, and as Congress hasn't come close to addressing that issue, screw 'em.

Personally, I think marriage should be outlawed.  I know that will never happen, cause open bars at receptions are very popular.... and if you don't invite enough people to your wedding, Who is gonna eat that big cake thingee, and getting blenders and toasters and micro-wave oven gifts is a spiffy deal.  My thought is marriage should be replaced with something like a renewable five year "Fidelity Lease".  You both promise not to fuck around with other people.  Easy enough.  And, if in the first five years everything goes well (or you have kids) you can renew for a twenty year one with a clause of who the kids stay with after college.

all right, that was silly, but then, so is denying basic rights to all people.  I think it falls into that 'pursuit of happiness' thing.  And inheritance.  And taxes.  Health benefits. Such stuff.

I hate to go the route,  " I know some gay people and they are all right" shit.  Well, I do, but that is just stale shit.  But I know Brian nad Tony have been together over thirty years....and Michael and Jerry too.  ?hose guys are about as married as you can get .  Course, Tom and Debbie were NOT married for about 20.... and they only got married because of legal benefits.  I guess Jerry and Michael deserve the same choice.

What I don't get is why this decision is now up to nine old shits in black robes.  This should have been a done deal a long time ago.  I don't think of it much; but the bottom line is if Gay/Lesbian people want the same pain, suffering, anxiety, anguish, worry and bullshit as heterosexuals...gees go for it.

BUT.....Gays should never own guns.  Wayne LaPierre told me so....and I believe everything that guy says.

Stuff&Such &Facts, 2

Oh, gosh, don't have much today....it is the nothingness thing again.. Just random thoughts... oh! I have one of those neat battery jobees on the wall...a "Random Detector'.  It beeps if there is too much random gas in the room...and then I run away to somewhere else less random.

So anyways, I was reading Sherry's blog  http://afeatheradrift.wordpress.com/  which is a nice place, and she had written this thing about Reid being a jerk and the bun bill, ah, gun bill  ....well, just go read it...anyways this troll is chiming in and stuff and he says a particular Democratic Politician
 was the "most responsible party of losing S. Vietnam to the Communists."  Now that made me chuckle.  As if it was ours to lose. break me up. It was funny. I love the way wing-nuts think.

Little known fact about jimm.  I always put my left shoe on first. Yup. Left sock, left shoe...then repeat for the right side. When I first noticed this I thought it was because I was a Liberal, but then I realized it was because, well, gee,  what if the Random Gas detector went off,beep-beep-beep,  real sudden like, and it was a snowstorm outside and I had to flee my domicile quickly, why gosh, I would have at least one sock and shoe on when I bounce around out in the blizzard! And I do hop better on my left foot.  Congenital flaw, I'm thinking.

Anyways.  Then I was over at Squatlo's Blog http://squatlo-rant.blogspot.com/ and he had posted a nice crips bit about the hypokazy, hipocrok, shameless hucksterism of Pat Robertson who says 'gimmee jimmee' no matter how broke you happen to be, cause well, shit&bisquits, "I'm Pat Robertson and I have a limo driver to pay, expensive ties and clothes, to buy, and the Lord's Work ain't cheap.  Ha! and then good old Squats found another clip of Pat counseling his flock to be wary of "Religious Shams. Of Con Artists with bibles.  Hey, you can't make this stuff up!

You know, I gotta tell you, I tried a rutabaga last week.  Just marched right on into the grocery store and picked one of those ugly suckers up! Peeling a rutabaga isn't anywhere as hard as I thought.  I mean, at first glimpse, peeling a rutabaga looks like it could be tough. Naw, it was a snap. I like my rutabaga with a little salt and butter.  Goooood rutabaga.  I do believe I will buy another rutabaga. I think I have developed l lking for the word rutabaga. Say, did you know that rutabagas are from Rutabagastan. Capital is Rutabaghdad. The country next door is Turnipistan. That's where turnips  come from.    Amazing, ha!  Can't make this stuff up.

Well I was in between basketball games and I wandered over to Randal Graves blog http://lennui-melodieux.blogspot.com/ and he had asked the rhetorical question, " if a tree falls and there is no one around to ignore it, does it still talk with itself?"  Now the mystery of life itself could hinge on this answer so I highly recommend y'all head over there and leave old Randal with some answers.

Going to make some Jello tonight.  Lemon Jello.  Jello originated in Jellopia, by the way. Little country outside of Sweden. You can't make this stuff up!
Anyways. The way I make it is,see, I don't add that cold water part of the recipe.  Nope.  Just mix in a can of crushed pineapple and a little lemonade.  You know lemonade originally came from Lemonolia.  Some desert country.  Not sure.  Better go look it up.  Just the facts, see.  And I am still not sure why Random Gas is dangerous and must be detected!

Iraqi War Heroes....ten years on.

"My belief is we will, in fact, be greeted as liberators." –Vice President Dick Cheney, "Meet the Press," March 16, 2003

Dick Cheney made millions off of the war

"We know there are known knowns: there are things we know we know. We also know there are known unknowns: that is to say we know there are things we know we don't know. But there are also unknown unknowns — the ones we don't know we don't know." —Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, Defense Department briefing, Fe. 12, 2002

Rumsfeld now teaches poetry with a on-line Universtiy

I pray for strength. I pray for wisdom. I pray for our troops in harm's way. I pray for my family.  I pray for my little girls. I think I would make a good Pope. I prayed alot and now Iraq is free.  Say, are the Cardinals still in town?  I always liked a Astros-Cardinals game.

A little carry out Chinese

Golly....winter has been offensive this year.  March is starting to act like the asshole guest at the dinner party who does not know how to leave!! Disgustifacating, if you ask me!But no one really asks me,, which is a good thing, if you ask me....
It was a good St. Patrick's Day....which was really Sunday, but here in beautiful downtown Wisco the local populace decided a Saturday would work so much nicer for a party, giving all involved a whole extra day to sober up before needing to be at work.  At six-thirty our town had it's first St. Partick's day parade. Extreme efforts were made to make the parade a success including making the parade only two blocks long. Now that was a stroke of genius.  It started down by the sundial across from the New Moon and ended a the empty car lot down by the Roxy where beer tents had been erected.  I always thought it bespoke well of the citizens of Wisconsin that they were not only hardier to drink cold beer outdoors in a tent when the temp is only 28 degrees, but just stupid enough to relish the opportunity.  I sat in at Oblio's with Basketball Joe and Baseball Ed.  Schultzy had some corned beef and cabbage flown in from the north side.  Nothing but the finest, course, it is hard to screw up a dish that is mostly boiled food.  The place filled early.  By 5:30 the place was fpacked with semi-inebriated young men and women; one of the latter very intent on declaring that I was Geraldo Rivera, so much so that she asked if I would autograph her boob.   I did explain that I really wasn't Geraldo, and she replied that she really didn't care

(facsimile)

 "Erin go bragh. Nice tits. Geraldo." is what I wrote with the sharpie pen, though now that I think of it, that was an  error, using the plural, as she only pulled out one and, to be honest, only 75% of that one.  I should not complain.  I have not seen a 25 year old boob in some time, let along sign one.  Ed thought it fun and it did add a little frivolity to the happening.

It still is the same old winter, though, and I grieve for the absence of all the other young flowering boobs, ah, buds of springtime.

 I  haven't seen a recent photo of Rivera.   I think I should find out if I can look more like him especially if the offers are that good.  Many years ago someone strongly remarked to me that I looked strongly like the Country & Western singer, Eddie Rabbit.  Now I really don't know what he looks like, and will never look him up to find out, but gees  Eddie Rabbit.  Maybe looking like Geraldo isn't so bad.
Ah, it is snowing again.  Three inches expected.  I am so gleeful with the news that I darn near died.

well this hasn't been much.  It still might be more than my last post, which was about nothing.  I leave you with a passion pasta poem....and ode to spaghetti

her hair was like well boiled spaghetti
her eyes deep and rich red like a sauce
immediately!  I was in love already
I just wondered how much she cost

her meatballs were large and well breaded
a little Parmesan stuck on her lip
"Fifty bucks, " she said, "if youse intended"
and smacked herself wetly on a hip

now, sometimes my breadstick thinks for me 
and sometimes I make it behave
but I envisioned her passion like a hot garlic sea,
amongst her Amber Grain I would wave

ok...that is not worth finishing and I really have an urge for Chinese anyway.

I think of important things!!!! When I am not busy.

 So the guy keeps telling me, "Write!" Of course, you see, about what becomes the question when there is truly nothing happening, being that starkly dull time of year when winter will not loosen it's grip and Spring is illusionary.
" I have nothing/"
"Oh, oh, you have plenty of that!  Write about it!"
But somehow I thought that if I really did have plenty of nothing, that really didn't leave much to write about.  It is hard to make something out of nothing.  Fox News does it all the time....but mostly they make nothing out of nothing which is entirely a different matter altogether.  I could write a TV show about basically nothing, but Seinfeld has laid claim to that.  How about a play?  " Much Ado About Nothing.?  Now that sounds like a really slick title and I will do IT!  Maybe have it take place somewhere in Italyl
In the meantime........I decided to write a great America Novel......only...cheat.  See I figure if I just steal the last sentience from each chapeter of a great book.....why gosh, I would be on my way to ACTUALLY writing something....lemmee try it, see how it works....

Little Jackie made it stick, all right.
He was right about that.
They inspired confidence.
The parcel, unopened, traveled around with him from unfurnished room to furnished room to the apartment where he lived for awhile with his beautiful wife Lois until the time came when he just walked out the door and didn't ocme back; to other furnished rooms and hotel rooms, to a big squarish parcel with the brown paper turning to yellow and the cords sagging and the name Jack Burden slowly fading.
And we love truth.
For, looking at me, she slowly nodded.
If we believe the dreams we dream when we go there.
And the winter had been long.
It had beenthe funeral of Adam Stanton,down at Burden's Landing.
But that will be a long time from now, and soon now we shall go out of the house and go into the convulsion of  the world, out of history into history and the awful responsibility of Time.

...well, so much for that idea.  At least it made me think, even just a little.  It did remind me of a Blog I used to read a few years back.  The guy's real name was Al Weisel and he wrote under the name, Jon Swift.  Al died unexpectedly about three years ago...it was just a wonderful little thing, well crafted, satirical and witty...and everything he wrote seemed so full of, well, something.  I wish I could write like he did.

Jon Swift

I am a reasonable conservative who likes to write about politics and culture. Since the media is biased I get all my news from Fox News, Rush Limbaugh and Jay Leno monologues.

...Anyways...I still hae nothing.  Just so much air, is all.  Not that having air is such a bad thing...I recently had a small experience of what it is like to NOT have air and I would not recommend that to anyone.  Air is good....you can have thin air, and disappear into it, air can be thick with suspense and so thick you can cut it with a knife.  Clean air.  Foul air.  Good for a walk and catch the night air.  You can be lighter than air, fly through the air with the greatest of ease, fall right out of the air, but of course, you had to have been up in the air first or at least been walking on air.  Yupperz, air is a good thing, much better than nothing, yet it is still hard to put air down on paper.  Kind of like the wind, which is a good enought thing cause you really need to have some air if you want to have a little wind.
And wind is good.  It is rahter like air, only it blows.  Which is good, right?  I mean, how good would wind chimes be without wind? Sure would be a slow boat to China, too, without some wind.  And how can you 'go fly a kite' without a little wind?  Wind is almost as good as nothing, except wind really does do something...and it really cares a better description of what is going on.  When you say ;break wind' you know exactly what just happened...in which case it would be best to be up-wind, cause you would not want to get wind of it.

Reminds me of a joke by Danny Kaye in  The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, 

And the oboe it is clearly understood
Is an ill wind that no one blows good.

 Which makes you think.....Does and Ill wind take two aspirins and good to bed ?Yes, wind is good.  Except on Neptune.  Saw some show on some cable channel and this guy was talking about the winds on Neptune blow constantly  at 900mph which sure wouldn't be good for beach property I'm guessing, though 900 ph is getting close to Rachel Maddow.  OK, I like her, but gees, she sure does talk fast, rather like she forgot to pee before getting on the set and she really has to hurry.
which reminds me....just hold it...I'll be right back.

There, I feel much better.


It is just that time of year, I guess. Not much going on unless you really like Pope Elections or a college basketball tournament that now has some 86 or so teams.  Sheesh.


Well....I still got nothing, jjust dead wind and stale air.
Kinda like McCongress.
Can I get some fries with that legislation?

Wonder if there is any TV shows on tonight of great social significance or political importance?