Mostly Cajun, All American and Opinionated

7/24/2008

(Excuse me while I gag)

And it came to pass, in the eighth year of the reign of the evil Bush the Younger (The Ignorant), when the whole land from the Arabian desert to the shores of the Great Lakes had been laid barren, that a Child appeared in the wilderness.

The Child was blessed in looks and intellect. Scion of a simple family, offspring of a miraculous union, grandson of a typical white person and an African peasant. And yea, as he grew, the Child walked in the path of righteousness, with only the occasional detour into the odd weed and a little blow.

When he was twelve years old, they found him in the temple in the City of Chicago, arguing the finer points of community organisation with the Prophet Jeremiah and the Elders. And the Elders were astonished at what they heard and said among themselves: “Verily, who is this Child that he opens our hearts and minds to the audacity of hope?”

In the great Battles of Caucus and Primary he smote the conniving Hillary, wife of the deposed King Bill the Priapic and their barbarian hordes of Working Class Whites.

And so it was, in the fullness of time, before the harvest month of the appointed year, the Child ventured forth - for the first time - to bring the light unto all the world.

He travelled fleet of foot and light of camel, with a small retinue that consisted only of his loyal disciples from the tribe of the Media. He ventured first to the land of the Hindu Kush, where the Taleban had harboured the viper of al-Qaeda in their bosom, raining terror on all the world.

And the Child spake and the tribes of Nato immediately loosed the Caveats that had previously bound them. And in the great battle that ensued the forces of the light were triumphant. For as long as the Child stood with his arms raised aloft, the enemy suffered great blows and the threat of terror was no more.

From there he went forth to Mesopotamia where he was received by the great ruler al-Maliki, and al-Maliki spake unto him and blessed his Sixteen Month Troop Withdrawal Plan even as the imperial warrior Petraeus tried to destroy it.

And lo, in Mesopotamia, a miracle occurred. Even though the Great Surge of Armour that the evil Bush had ordered had been a terrible mistake, a waste of vital military resources and doomed to end in disaster, the Child’s very presence suddenly brought forth a great victory for the forces of the light.

And the Persians, who saw all this and were greatly fearful, longed to speak with the Child and saw that the Child was the bringer of peace. At the mention of his name they quickly laid aside their intrigues and beat their uranium swords into civil nuclear energy ploughshares.

From there the Child went up to the city of Jerusalem, and entered through the gate seated on an ass. The crowds of network anchors who had followed him from afar cheered “Hosanna” and waved great palm fronds and strewed them at his feet.

In Jerusalem and in surrounding Palestine, the Child spake to the Hebrews and the Arabs, as the Scripture had foretold. And in an instant, the lion lay down with the lamb, and the Israelites and Ishmaelites ended their long enmity and lived for ever after in peace.

As word spread throughout the land about the Child’s wondrous works, peoples from all over flocked to hear him; Hittites and Abbasids; Obamacons and McCainiacs; Cameroonians and Blairites.

And they told of strange and wondrous things that greeted the news of the Child’s journey. Around the world, global temperatures began to decline, and the ocean levels fell and the great warming was over.

The Great Prophet Algore of Nobel and Oscar, who many had believed was the anointed one, smiled and told his followers that the Child was the one generations had been waiting for.

And there were other wonderful signs. In the city of the Street at the Wall, spreads on interbank interest rates dropped like manna from Heaven and rates on credit default swaps fell to the ground as dead birds from the almond tree, and the people who had lived in foreclosure were able to borrow again.

Black gold gushed from the ground at prices well below $140 per barrel. In hospitals across the land the sick were cured even though they were uninsured. And all because the Child had pronounced it.

And this is the testimony of one who speaks the truth and bears witness to the truth so that you might believe. And he knows it is the truth for he saw it all on CNN and the BBC and in the pages of The New York Times.

Then the Child ventured forth from Israel and Palestine and stepped onto the shores of the Old Continent. In the land of Queen Angela of Merkel, vast multitudes gathered to hear his voice, and he preached to them at length.

But when he had finished speaking his disciples told him the crowd was hungry, for they had had nothing to eat all the hours they had waited for him.

And so the Child told his disciples to fetch some food but all they had was five loaves and a couple of frankfurters. So he took the bread and the frankfurters and blessed them and told his disciples to feed the multitudes. And when all had eaten their fill, the scraps filled twelve baskets.

Thence he travelled west to Mount Sarkozy. Even the beauteous Princess Carla of the tribe of the Bruni was struck by awe and she was great in love with the Child, but he was tempted not.

On the Seventh Day he walked across the Channel of the Angles to the ancient land of the hooligans. There he was welcomed with open arms by the once great prophet Blair and his successor, Gordon the Leper, and his successor, David the Golden One.

And suddenly, with the men appeared the archangel Gabriel and the whole host of the heavenly choir, ranks of cherubim and seraphim, all praising God and singing: “Yes, We Can.”

–From The Times, London, July 25, 2008, by Gerard Baker

(From Pete’s post on CSP Gun Talk)

Fun and games

Filed under: Blogging, The Name Game — mostly cajun @ 7:47 pm

Just browsing through the visitor log and I find that once again my humble blog has gotten tied into one of those baby name message boards.

Of course, if you’ve read this board for very long, you know about my mostly weekly forays into the birth announcements from the local newspaper. As you might also surmise, my rather gruff, humorous and reactionary views on baby names tend to make me somewhat controversial in that setting.

At least this time nobody’s yet mentioned the pressing need to hang my ol’ carcass from the shrubbery.

Dang, this is fun!

The Name Game - A Kiwi Perspective

Filed under: General, The Name Game — mostly cajun @ 10:05 am

We get letters:

Hi Cajun. I’ve been reading your blog for quite a while now, and i particularly love your name game posts It never ceases to amaze me what weird names parents think up.

However, I came across this news item from New Zealand today that outdoes the parents in your neck of the woods. A court has declared an 8yo to have a name that has caused her to have a social disability, and put the girl in court guardianship until her name can be changed.

Cheers - Sarah from Australia

Three or four of my readers have emailed and commented to me about this news article or the original in a New Zealand paper.  Sarah from Australia emailed me the thing first.  It’s a doozy.

‘Number 16 Bus Shelter’, ‘Violence’ among kids registered names
6:44PM Thursday July 24, 2008

New Zealand children have been given names such as Number 16 Bus Shelter, Violence and Benson and Hedges(twins).

But other names, including Fish and Chips, Yeah Detroit, Stallion, Twisty Poi, Keenan Got Lucy and Sex Fruit, have been blocked by registration officials.

You know, after doing my weekly “Name Game” for over three years now, I tend to view the people whose kids make my list as merely misguided. I have to say, though, this bunch of New Zealanders goes far past misguided. I can understand somebody harboring some ideas about doing things to poke fun at societal convention. I do that from time to time myself. But I don’t use my kids as a tool. Like those people.

The revelations came during written findings by Family Court Judge Murfitt, who ordered a girl be put in court guardianship so her name - Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii - could be changed.

Now I’m as liberty-oriented as just about anybody I know of, but here’s a judge that I like. SOMEBODY needed to draw a line here.

The girl’s lawyer told the judge she was so embarrassed by her name she refused to reveal it to friends.

Child Youth and Family does not consider giving a child an out-of-the-ordinary name a form of abuse unless a child suffers serious bullying as a result

From this quote we must infer that the young lady is old enough to know what her “parents” did to her.

What I want to know is what sort of drugs could induce the thought patterns that would cause adult human beings to do this to a child.

A CYF spokeswoman says the name a parent chooses for a child does not constitute a care and protection issue in itself.

But Judge Rob Murfitt said he had concerns over the girl’s name - and others with equally strange names - creating a social hurdle for them as they grew up.

The custody case judgment was made in February but was brought to light today.

“Creating a social hurdle”?

A lawyer for Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii had reported the nine-year-old was so embarrassed about her name that she had not revealed it to her friends and was other wise known as “K”.

The lawyer said the girl feared being mocked and teased, and had a better insight about the situation than her parents, who appeared not to have given any thought to implications of giving their child such a name.

That’s a pretty decent assessment of the effects of tagging a baby with foolishness, but folks, even the worst I’ve found in the local papers comes nowhere close to this one.

Brian Clarke, the registrar general of Births, Deaths and Marriages, said New Zealand law does not allow names that would cause offense to a reasonable person, that are 100 characters or more long, that include titles or military rank or that include punctuation marks or numerals.

They have a law? Oh, my! That “punctuation” thing could cause a lot of protests among a certains egment of the population here. so don’t worry. We won’t have that law.

He said officials usually talked to parents who proposed unusual names to convince them about the potential for embarrassment.

“Often when we explain the situation to parents we can agree on an acceptable name to register,” he said.

Registering for exams or applying for a passport or driving licence would have presented difficult issues.

There’s another hurdle for such a law here: Our particularly competent level of bureaucrats. Hell, most of the folks behind governmental counters here either have one of those names themselves, or they have kids with those names…

* Must not cause offence to a reasonable person

* Must not be unreasonably long (less than 100 characters long including spaces)

* Must not be without adequate justification, be, include or resemble and official title or rank

* Does not use punctuation marks, brackets or numbers

You know, I’m a big fan of self-sufficiency and self-detrmination, but when faced with foolishness fo this sort, I’m almost of the opinion that some people need a government to protect them from themselves.

Two hundred years ago, people like this would wander off into the wilderness and bet eaten by bears or starve to death and would no longer pollute the gene pool. The “success” of modern civilization is that we allow them to live and reproduce.

Today in History - July 24

Filed under: History — mostly cajun @ 6:21 am

1487 - Citizens of Leeuwarden, Netherlands strike against ban on foreign beer. That’s as good a reason as any for a strike.

1915
- Passenger ship Eastland capsizes in central Chicago, with the loss of 845 lives, while tied to the DOCK!

1929 - The Kellogg-Briand Pact, renouncing war as an instrument of foreign policy, goes into effect (it was first signed in Paris on August 27, 1928 by most leading world powers). “All we are saying, is give peace a chance…” Oh, for like ten years, while Nazi Germany rearms…

1935 - The dust bowl heat wave reaches its peak, sending temperatures to 109°F (44°C) in Chicago and 104°F (40°C) in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. SUV’s are banned, and things go back to normal.

1967 - During an official state visit to Canada, French President Charles de Gaulle declares to a crowd of over 100,000 in Montreal: Vive le Québec libre! (Long live free Quebec!). The statement, interpreted as support for Quebec independence, delighted many Quebecers but angered the Canadian government and many English Canadians. Charles de Gaulle is one of history’s more prominent clowns. In his own mind, and the mind of many French, he is solely responsible for running the Germans out of France in WW II.

7/23/2008

Appearances

Filed under: Humor — mostly cajun @ 11:52 am

(I should post something)

Louise, the church gossip, and self-appointed monitor of the church’s morals, kept sticking her nose in to other people’s business. Several members did not approve of her extra-curricular activities, but feared her enough to maintain their silence.

She made a mistake, however, when she accused Bill, a new member, of being an alcoholic after she saw his old pickup parked in front of the towns only bar one afternoon. She emphatically told Bill (and several others) that everyone seeing it there would know what he was doing.

Bill, a man of few words, stared at her for a moment and just turned and walked away. He didn’t explain, defend, or deny … He said nothing.

Later that evening, Bill quietly parked his pickup in front of Louise’s house … walked home … and left it there all night.

You got to love Bill!

Today in History - July 23

Filed under: History — mostly cajun @ 5:52 am

1829 - In the United States, William Austin Burt patents the Typographer, a precursor to the typewriter. Up to this point everything was either handwritten, printed with hand-set type and printed. Handwriting was a big deal.

1903 - Ford Motor Company sells its first car.

1929
- Fascist government in Italy bans the use of foreign words. Today the ban is on any words that might discomfort one protected group or another… But we’re not Fascist. Yet.

1942 - The Holocaust: The Treblinka extermination camp is opened. Before it is shut down in 1943, somewhere between 1,000,000 and 1,400,000 people were exterminated, most of them for the crime of being Jewish.

1983 - Gimli Glider: Air Canada flight 143 lands “dead-stick” in Gimli, Manitoba. In an amazing feat of aeronautical skill the pilots of an Air Canada 767 run out of fuel in mid-air and manage to glide the plane to a safe landing.

7/22/2008

yeugghhhh!

Filed under: General — mostly cajun @ 5:52 pm

Something wrong with the Cajun. I was in fine spirit until mid-afternoon, and then things took a downhill turn.

Right now I feel worse’n homemade sin riding on a crippled spider, nausea, headache, sinus, fever…

Until I recover, blogging will be secondary to anything that makes me feel better…

Today in History - July 22

Filed under: General, History — mostly cajun @ 6:01 am

1933 - Wiley Post becomes first person to fly solo around the world traveling 15,596 miles in 7 days, 18 hours and 45 minutes.

1942 - The United States government begins compulsory civilian gasoline rationing due to the wartime demands. They could have just charged four bucks a gallon…

1942 - Holocaust: The systematic deportation of Jews from the Warsaw Ghetto begins. Before long, the Jews figured out that the deportations were death sentences, and began armed resistance. That resistance is a story of heroism. Futile, but heroic…

2003 - Members of 101st Airborne of the United States, aided by Special Forces, attack a compound in Iraq, killing Saddam Hussein’s sons Uday and Qusay.

7/21/2008

I need to be needed…

Filed under: Weather, Wheels of Industry — mostly cajun @ 6:11 pm

That was a song from way back in the dim mists of history when I was young and dinosaurs roamed the land…

So we got Hurricane Dolly. What a hrrible name. How would like to spend the rest of your life telling people you lost everything to Dolly?

Dolly’s in the Gulf of Mexico. Here’s NOAA’s latest SWAG.

Since I’m working in an industry with a presence on the Gulf of Mexico, well, 23 miles inland from the actual shore, but well within the storm surge range from, say, a Category 3 storm, we had a quick run at the whole hurricane prep thing.

You see, I’m the electrical “go-to”guy for both a pipeline AND the plant here, and we had to have a talk about who could do what in case we were back in the same boat as we were three years ago, with the entire power grid down and tanks full of liquid natural gas happily boiling off into vapor.

We have this neat twenty megawatt generator that runs off natural gas. We have tanks full of natural gas. Ergo, we should be in pretty good shape. We managed to be the first plant running in the area, a day and a half after Hurricane Rita rolled through. It took a few shenanigans as the storm punched a few holes in our engineering. I was instrumental in that restoration effort, and because of it, the plant people want me around for a possible sequel.

My real boss, though, is the pipeline guy, and he wants me on his leash for any possible problems on the pipeline.

Me, I’m trying to cover both. I’m pointing to my cellphone and to some capable folks on their staff that should be able to do what needs to be done under most circumstances. And it’s agood feeling to be needed. But I’ve got some teaching to do.

Today in History - July 21

Filed under: History — mostly cajun @ 6:49 am

1861 - American Civil War: First Battle of Bull Run (In the Confederacy, it is known as First Manassas) - At Manassas Junction, Virginia, the first major battle of the war begins (Confederate victory). Victory, he*l! It ended up in a rout. Stonewall Jackson gets his nickname, and the famed “Rebel Yell” is heard for the first time.

1873 - At Adair, Iowa, Jesse James and the James-Younger gang pull off the first successful train robbery in the American West. “American West”? WE don’t usually think of Iowa in terms of the American West, but it was…

1940 Soviet Union annexes Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania. Fifty years later, they’re free of the Soviet yoke.

1983 - The world’s lowest temperature is recorded at Vostok Station, Antarctica at −89.2°C (−129°F). More of the early stages of global warming.

7/20/2008

Instructions

Filed under: General — mostly cajun @ 2:13 pm

Here is an actual sign posted at a golf club in Scottsdale , Arizona :

1. BACK STRAIGHT, KNEES BENT, FEET SHOULDER WIDTH APART.
2. FORM A LOOSE GRIP.
3. KEEP YOUR HEAD DOWN.
4. AVOID A QUICK BACK SWING.
5. STAY OUT OF THE WATER.
6. TRY NOT TO HIT ANYONE.
7. IF YOU ARE TAKING TOO LONG, LET OTHERS GO AHEAD OF YOU.
8. DON’T STAND DIRECTLY IN FRONT OF OTHERS.
9. QUIET PLEASE…WHILE OTHERS ARE PREPARING.
10. DON’T TAKE EXTRA STROKES.

WELL DONE.
NOW, FLUSH THE URINAL,
GO OUTSIDE, & TEE OFF!

(Stolen from CSP Gun Talk’s Political (!) Page where it was posted by ol’ Clyde)

Carried to its logical conclusion…

Filed under: General — mostly cajun @ 10:14 am

This is what can happen:

Montreal shopkeepers told to put brooms away

Bylaw Dispute; Sweeping city sidewalks a job for unionized staff

Graeme Hamilton, National Post Published: Saturday, July 19, 2008

MONTREAL
- A bylaw adopted last year obliging shopkeepers and apartment owners in downtown Montreal to sweep in front of their properties has spruced up the city. Fewer cigarette butts and fast-food wrappers litter the sidewalks, and garbage bags are no longer left out for days before the trucks pass.

You and me, we’re reading this and thinking, oaky, a cleaner city is a Good Thing. I mean, it’s a bit heavy-handed and nosey that the city has to pass a law to get people to take pride in their sidewalks, but the result is “A Good Thing”. Of course it’s backed up by fines and such, but you know sometimes you gotta prod people with the point of a government bayonet to get them to do some good.

But we gotta remember, no good deed goes unpunished.

But acting on a complaint from the union representing Montreal’s blue-collar employees, a labour arbitrator has ruled that the bylaw violates the city’s collective agreement with its workers. Sidewalkcleaning is the exclusive domain of the blue-collars, arbitrator Andre Rousseau concluded, and the city has no business enlisting “volunteers” to do the work.

The decision effectively means that city sidewalks and streets are a closed union shop, so anyone taking a broom in hand had better watch out.

Now, ain’t that something? The goal here is a clean city. And who’s standing in the way of a clean city? None other than the group that’s paid to keep it clean.

The decision effectively means that city sidewalks and streets are a closed union shop, so anyone taking a broom in hand had better watch out.

The blue-collars are notoriously jealous of their turf.

In 2003, workers waged a campaign of intimidation against private contractors who had been hired by the city for such jobs as cutting grass and repairing sidewalks.

This would be laughable if it weren’t for the pain. You and I both know that the only thing less ambition than a government employee sanitation worker is a UNION government employee sanitation worker.

“The blue-collar workers wouldn’t bend to pick up a cigarette butt. They’re spoiled,” he said. “I don’t have much faith that they’re going to clean the sidewalk. I think we’re going to go back to the dirt.”

Why did I post about something happening in Canada? Quebec, the FRENCH-acting part of Canada, to boot?

It’s because I have faith, people. I know that we in America have a fine set of moonbats here. We have our own entirely capable set of government social engineers and union socialists, and I know they’re reading this stuff and thinking “Why didn’t WE try that?”

The Name Game - #153

Filed under: General — mostly cajun @ 9:36 am

Eighty by eight. Eighty degrees before 8 AM. Heat index is 99 right now. Our summer weather pattern gives us a scattering of thundershowers every day. These help to keep the humidity in the “wet sponge” range. I walked out this morning to get he morning paper and my glasses fogged over immediately.

Looking at the birth announcements this week, I see we have reports from three hospitals covering the period of May 21 through July 9. That’s 99 total new babies. Forty-eight of these were born outside traditional marriages, and ten of the new mommies had reason not to put a daddy’s name on the birth registration. Hillary’s “village” will be raising these. With my money.

We’ll start out this foray into the workings of parental minds in southwest Louisiana by looking at the “I like that name, but let’s spell it different to show people we’re trend-setters” bunch:

Jamie S. & Dawn M. present their new daughter, little Addyson Elizabeth. The “y” definitely makes this special, as does naming your daughter “-son”.

Joseph L. & Stephanie A. pull the “-son” trick with their daughter, little Graison Rayne. “Rayne” is either a small town east of here, or a misspelled weather phenomenon. And, according to these folks, a girl’s name.

Jonathan B. & Victoria S. bring us their baby girl, little Syndi Laine.

That spelling looked good to Brad & Casey B., so they hung it on their new daughter, little Syndi Lee.

Next we’ll look at the “Honey, the dog ate the Scrabble set. I just found a name for our baby” group:

Miss Casey H. has a new son, little Dreamon Lee. “Casey! You gotta know who de baby daddy is.” “Dreamon, momma.”

Calvin A. & Delicia (!) L. show us their new daughter, little Saniyah Laiken.

Derick & Stacey M. wanted a “junior” but they got a baby girl, so they tagged her with Derricka DeShae.

Miss Ashely E. has a new daughter, little Anaysia Armani. One must wonder if she’s planning on naming a son “Nike” or “Reebok”. Do these companies pass out cash for product placement in some neighborhoods?

Miss Daisha J. presents her baby girl, little Anazia Shani. She doesn’t present a name in the “father” block on the birth registration.

Shelby S. & Mallory J. show us “tryndeigh” in names, tagging their baby girl with Rayleigh Denae.

They were neck and neck with Jeremy & Blaire S. and their baby girl, little Bayleigh Rae.

Leah P. & Christopher B. give us a set of twin girls, little Takara Maria and Shakara Natasha.

Aimee W. & Jacob L. flash back to the Sixties and tag their daughter with Paisley Jo.

We have one baby that just needed three given names this week:

Jeremy R. & Nicole F. tagged their daughter with Naiylah Annette-Nicole.

And then we come to the fine folk to whom twenty-six letters of the alphabet cannot adequately portray what they’re trying to accomplish with a child’s name, so they use a little punctuation:

Miss De’Janeiro C. has a new daughter, little Je’Niyah Leara. And no baby daddy.

Miss Sara W. has a new son, little Ja’Derryian Jayden. And no baby daddy.

Derrick & Lakesha S. present their new daughter, little Ja’laya Tiffianie.

Miss Kenya H. shows us her new daughter, little Ke’Monee Charann. And no baby daddy.

Eural E. & Shawntel H. have a new son, little Je’siah George.

And that brings us to a stopping point. “Name of the Week’? I’m thinking “Ja’derryian Jayden”. Enjoy your week!

Today in History - July 20

Filed under: History — mostly cajun @ 6:57 am

1712 - The Riot Act takes effect in Great Britain. There really WAS a riot act, and when it was read, the crowd was supposed to break up and go home or back to work.

1881 - Indian Wars:Sioux Chief Sitting Bull leads the last of his fugitive people in surrender to US troops at Fort Buford, North Dakota.

1903 - Ford Motor Company shipped its first car.

1924 - Teheran, Persia comes under martial law after the American vice consul, Robert Imbrie, is killed by a religious mob enraged by rumors he had poisoned a fountain and killed several people. The place was full or hallucinating whack-jobs then, too…

1944 - World War II: Adolf Hitler survives an assassination attempt (known as the July 20 Plot) led by German Army Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg.

1949 - Israel and Syria sign a truce to end their nineteen-month war. Oh yeah, that’s gonna stick…

1951
- King Abdullah I of Jordan is assassinated by a Palestinian while attending Friday prayers in Jerusalem. Palestinians — assassinations. Hard to separate those two.

1954 - At Geneva, Switzerland, an armistice is signed that ends fighting in Vietnam and divides the country along the 17th parallel. Oh yeah, that’s gonna stick…

1964 - Vietnam War: Viet Cong forces attack the capital of Dinh Tuong Province, Cai Be, killing 11 South Vietnamese military personnel and 40 civilians (30 of which are children). If you’re going to make an omelet, you have to break a few eggs, right, Jane? And all you other lovers of the VC.

1969 - Space program: A mission launched by a consortium of European nations working in consort with the Soviet Union lands the first man on the moon. Right!?!? NO? Then that means that the ONLY flag and ONLY footprints left off this planet by mankind came from, oh, AMERICA!!!

1984 - Officials of the Miss America pageant ask Vanessa Lynn Williams to quit after Penthouse published nude photos of her. Ah, yes! The infamous “duck call” pose. Today, compared to the likes of Madonna and Paris Hilton, Vanessa Williams seems like a nun.

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