The wonders of technology

Now that we have broadband, I decided to take the plunge and get a Grace Solo wi-fi radio. No, I didn’t need it. But there’s no real estate on my desk for decent computer speakers, loading web pages is a PITA, and we wanted something that Rusty could also use.  So we went out last night, to Aldi and then to Sears, where the unit was unexpectedly $10 off, and then out to eat.

We were up until nearly midnight playing.  Once the unit is set up, it’s actually very easy to use. Finding all the best stations can be difficult, as they’re dependent on Grace’s Reciva technology. I did get WFMT set up as a feed, but not yet WCLV. A few of the stations on the Grace website turned out to be live365 stations, which apparently require a subscription rather than the free sign-up. Oh well…it’s not like there’s a dearth of things to listen to. Last night, after the Polish folk, Rusty suggested we check out Africa. Uganda was OK, but of the 5 channels in Zimbabwe, the only one we could get was playing American country music.  On Polka Legacy, we stumbled upon some New Years festivities from 1955/56, when Rusty was 6 weeks old and I was in utero. We had the Beck show on WTAM, and R. became terminally annoyed with Mike Trivisonno (not a hard thing I’ll admit). So I fixed it by getting a Columbus station instead. Right now she’s listening to a Native American station…which is starting to make me glad I’ll be leaving for Mass soon.

Anyway, there’ll be lots of good listening for 2011; I hope you have a good one!

“We need a libertarian Che Guevara”

Uh, yeah, that’s the ticket…we need somebody willing to mass-murder for freedom….just like we need a whore on the school board. (Or should that be another whore, or a real whore?)

We’ve already got a T-shirt icon; too bad she really wasn’t very pretty.

Humberto Fontova should have something to say any minute now.

News from the old home place

I spent my elementary school years in Worth Township, Sanilac Co., Michigan. Upon passing through in the afternoon of Christmas Day, I noticed the sort of large homemade signs generally created by Peasants With Pitchforks, decrying the “Marcy tax” and seeking the recall of one Marcella Bartniczak. Being curious about such things, I asked my dad what was going on, and then this morning read a full article in The Detroit Free Press about the adventure.  It also happens that, it being 2010, said Peasants With Pitchforks have a website, from which the following quotes were taken.

Our story begins in 1998, when George and Margaret Paeth bought a cottage in Worth, and proceeded to renovate it. Now, a great many cottages in the lakeside subdivisions of Worth need renovating; they were built to be summer lodgings for Detroiters and did not need to be large or cold-proof. The Paeths got all the proper paperwork from the county and the township zoning official, and proceeded on their project.

After nearly five (5) years of construction on the home and reliance on the various permits, including the one issued by Worth Township, Ms. Cutcher notified the Paeths, for the first time, that the structure they had built required a variance from the side set back requirements of approximately two (2) feet from the Worth Township Zoning Board of Appeals (ZBA). Despite assurances from Township Supervisor Ed Smith that the variance would be approved by the ZBA and the hearing was a ”mere formality,” the ZBA refused to issue the non-use variance and instructed the Paeths to tear down their home and move it two (2) feet, six (6) inches eastward.

So they sued in Sanilac Circuit Court, not once but three times. Each time, the court remanded the case to the Zoning Board of Appeals, which used various subterfuges to screw the Paeths, until finally after 3 years the Court issued the variance itself, which was upheld upon appeal by the MI Court of Appeals. At this point, Worth Zoning notified the Paeths that they would not appeal further to the Michigan Supreme court. Instead, Ms. Cutcher posted a stop work order on the property, without notice or opportunity to respond, claiming later that the original building permit had expired.

Even after the State of Michigan notified Defendants that the 2003 building permit never expired, the Defendants will not remove it. Defendant Worth Township abandoned its Building Department and fired Ms. Cutcher. No one within Worth Township will remove the stop work.

Hence, another lawsuit, this time in Federal court.
Quoting now from the judges’ various findings:

The plaintiffs’ troubles with Worth Township began in earnest in 2002, when the township formed its own building department. Barbara Cutcher had become the Worth Township Zoning and Building Administrator…

In short, having formed a government, that government had to find somebody to govern.

Cutcher testified that Township Clerk Marcy Bartnicziak instructed her to post the order….ZBA chairman Thomas Gilbert also confirmed that Marcy would usually go “to great lengths to get her way,” and that she has done things out of spite even with respect to Mr. Gilbert himself. …The involvement of the township officials eventually came to a dramatic end. Cutcher pleaded guilty to forgery of assessment documents in an unrelated matter, and she was disciplined by the State of Michigan for “falsif[ying] Clyde Township Board of Review documents by cutting and pasting Board of Review members’ signature onto Board of Review affidavits and a Board of Review Report.” Pls.’ Mot. for Summ. J., Ex. 20. The township treasurer, [first name] Shade, was convicted of embezzlement. The township’s building department was dissolved by the State of Michigan in July 2008. Cutcher did not remove the stop work order until October 2008, notwithstanding the State of Michigan’s letter sent to the township on May 22, 2008 directing the order to be removed. In the meantime, for two years while Sanilac County circuit court was considering the plaintiffs’ matter and until the stop work order was removed, the plaintiffs agreed not to undertake any construction on the property.

The summary judgement went before a jury:

The jury returned a verdict in favor of the plaintiffs on the retaliation claim and awarded damages in the amount of $275,000. The jury separately awarded damages on the procedural due process claim in the amount of $325,000.

And then they went for attorney’s fees:

It is further ORDERED that the defendant shall pay attorney’s fees to the plaintiffs in the
amount of $201,097.79.

One small problem here…two actually. One was that the township was only carrying $100K of insurance for such matters. The second was that they were broke, having paid $2M for engineering fees for a state-mandated sewer system that was decided by the MI Court of Appeals to be an overreach of state power. Sooooo…

It is further ORDERED that defendant shall take proper steps to enroll the judgment on its next tax roll pursuant to Mich. Comp. Laws § 600.6093(1). The defendant shall sequester the funds collected, and neither party shall access the funds until further order of this Court.

This is the so-called “Marcy Tax”, which is equal to about 8x the township’s annual operating budget.

Now, this is all disastrous enough. But the township is facing a second lawsuit in the matter. Thomas Gilbert, former Chair of the Worth Township Zoning Board of Appeals, had testified in support of the Paeths. Suddenly, the roadside produce stand that he had been operating for several years was declared to be in violation of zoning. No other stands had been so condemned, and the enforcement is pre-empted by the Michigan Right to Farm Act.

OK, so that’s the news. Here’s the analysis:
1. We’re dealing with an area which is fundamentally rural. This is mostly about the small strip of land east of M-25; the west side of M-25 is farm and small businesses, such as this one.
2. I can’t believe, based on my experience, that there is a substantive amount of raw sewage going into Lake Huron from failed septic systems. Some, perhaps; the lake has a nasty habit of gobbling peoples’ lots. In any case, installation of a sanitary sewer and water system is about the least efficient means possible of dealing with the issue, and capable of abuse (it was one of the weapons used against the Paeths)
3. There has always been a certain tension between “the dudes”, as we called city-dwellers, and the permanent residents. They like to have things “the way they are in the city”, i.e., with somebody looking over your every move. “The city” was Detroit when I was growing up (lots of Polish firemen and the like), but is now purely suburban, since everyone who could get out of Detroit has done so.
4. Zoning is intrinsically evil.
5. Small people like power, and like to throw it around.
6. Barniczak claims that the recall is a personal vendetta. Well, as we’ve been told, the personal is political, and it was only a matter of time before the common man began to Alinskyate back. Apparently, she was not always capable of separating the personal from the political, so what’s sauce for the goose… and crying because her kids have to wait for the school bus by a sign calling for her recall? That’s rich. The Paeths had a hard time with neighbors too. so suck it up, or drive your kids 5-10 miles to school.

TSA comedy and song

Via Soja, apparently there’s a troll in the TSA, working WeWontFly.com. Some of its comments have been unprintable. This is one of the more reasonable ones:

If any of you are parents who have children, I feel sorry for the kids because you will raise them to be cynical, skeptical and totally paranoid.

Gosh, I hope so.

Elsewhere, Vanderbeogh comes out of semi-retirement to share some crotch-grabber carols. They aren’t of phenomenal quality or anything, but they’re there. It strikes me that the center of folk music culture is moving to the right. We don’t have a Woody Guthrie or Pete Seeger yet, but it’s coming, and it’s only a matter of time before a famous protest song comes out of this. One can only wonder what Tom Lehrer in his prime would have done with the TSA. Another song ripe for abuse is Blue Lu Barker’s “Don’t you feel my leg” (covered by Maria Muldaur):
“Don’t you feel my leg,
Don’t you feel my leg,
’cause if you feel my leg,
you’re gonna feel my thigh.
And if you feel my thigh,
you won’t let me fly
So don’t you feel my leg.”

Internet world and the real world

Relatively sane people look at the stories in the dextrosphere and in the mainstream media, and have to conclude that the world is riding the luge to Lucifer, that Western civilization is DOOMED!, that Jesus has to return soon because things will be FUBAR. I wouldn’t minimize the peril we’re in as a society. But there is reason for hope.

I went out this morning to finish my Christmas shopping. It was a calm, peaceful experience. Clerks generally wished me a Merry Christmas, I found what I needed, it was all good. There were two special moments. The first was in K-mart. I had one item, and was standing in line, as it seemed overall a shorter wait than the express line. Two women were talking in the express line about their domestic duties over the next several days, which included a lot of baking. Score one: there are still women who bake cookies.  Then the woman ahead of me offered to have me go ahead of her, even though her things were all on the belt. I declined, saying I was in no rush, but thanking her for her thoughtfulness.

The next moment was at the checkout in Borders. I was holding my credit card and drivers’ license…I thought.  I went to pay for my purchases and found only my license. I checked all my pockets and wallet, and of course it wasn’t there. So I paid in cash, and realized that I would need to retrace my steps. Just then, the man behind me said, “Are you looking for something?” “Yes, my credit card.” “Somebody turned one in to the other cashier just a couple minutes ago.” So I inquired, saw the blue and white and realized it was probably mine, and sure enough, it was. I thanked everyone involved profusely, and was on my way.

So for all you Chicken Littles out there:  in Niles Ohio on the 23rd of December in the Year of Our Lord 2010, it’s still the 1950′s, people are still basically normal and decent, and Advent feels like Advent for the first time all Advent. I hope the sitrep is similar where you are, and may you have a blessed Christmas season.

The love that dares not wear its ring

McPhillips accuses some libertarians of being butt-boys for cultural Marxists re DADT repeal. It’s not quite that; it’s more like commies and libertarians came out of the same 1790′s Parisian bath-house, and they just had a rapturous reunion.

Well, ya know, Martin, I’m all into that All-American Equality thing. So why didn’t we instead expand DADT to heterosexuals? How is your sexuality anyone else’s business? What if you faced a court-martial every time you gassed about your exploits to your buddies? What would that do to the military, besides make it much smaller?

“I was listening to – forgive the expression – an NPR reporter”

Apparently Ms. Deathmountain had a conniption when she realized that, in doing her reporterly duty by calling a spade a spade, she was going to have to use the “c-word” (and no, not the one that gives normal women conniptions).

People talk about this “war on Christmas”. It’s not a war; if it were, there’d be fighting back, and casualties on both sides.  It’s not a war; it’s an edit. The term slowly and thoughtlessly leaves our vocabulary. Much of everyday speech is a parroting back of what we hear. We tend not to speak the same big words that we use when writing, because nobody else does. We pick up a little of the accent when speaking with somebody who speaks accented English. And mindlessly, even if we’re Christians, we say “happy holidays”, because that’s what anyone else says, anymore. The only difference with Totenberg’s crowd is that they think the words are important enough to give offense, and to apologize for. Most of us don’t care even that much.

Y’all want to fight a war for Christmas? Quit wishing people “Merry Christmas” when it’s not December 25. Wish them “Happy Advent”. That’s what it is, and they need to be reminded. If God is going to come to earth, they’d better be ready — especially when it happens again. If they don’t have a concept of Advent (and even many Christians don’t), they’ll have to think about it, which is a Good Thing. If they take Advent seriously, they will take Christmas seriously. Afterwards, you can use “Happy Christmastide” for the Twelve Days. Yes, there are other times to remember in there, but “Happy St. Stephen’s Day” or “Happy Holy Innocents” or “Happy Bris of Jesus Holy Name” is too much too soon, and might tend to harsh their seasonal mellow. Being hit the day after with gift returns at your retail job and being hit with rocks until you die are not exactly the same thing.

And to all of you, happy Holy Days and a merry Christ Mass. (though what Mass isn’t a Christ Mass?)

On tomorrow’s skyshow

“naturally the folks who natter about the spiritual origins of polyamory backstage at every RenFest are in a tizzy.”
So says Tam, linking Roberta X, who suggests that the Wiccan Church of Canada is making way too much out of a regular and perfectly natural event.

I wuz one, once, so I can relate to the idea of reading omens into everything. But what was it an omen of in 1554…which was not one of the better years to be a witch? Here are a few of the events that immediately followed:

1550 About mid century, infanticide began to come to the notice of the courts. Along with this development, witchcraft is increasingly seen as a secular crime rather than an ecclesiastical or spiritual mistake.
1557: Toulouse witch trials took place, during which forty witches were condemned and burned.
1560 Women begin to be accused of witchcraft and sexual crimes. For the first time women have legal standing as the accused.

If it’s a “transformative energy”, I’d want to be really careful about what was being transformed. Look at the symbolism: the Goddess is going to disappear, on the longest night of the year, darkness on darkness.

Fed assault on Perkins OK bank

Out in the sticks the Okies like it when their bank has a lot of Christian foofara about it…crosses and Bible verses and such. It makes them trust the bank more, I guess. Given that they are of necessity in cahoots with the banksters of the Federal Reserve System, one would think that such protective camoflage would be approved of.  One would be wrong. The banksters were all upset and ordered the moneychangers to stay away from Jesus, because a Jew or Muslim might be offended and subtly discouraged from banking there.  This assumes of course that a Jew or Muslim has not already been subtly discouraged from moving to Perkins Oklahoma, or that a devout Muzzie has any business in a bank anyway. (and would I be able to get money from a Sharia bank?)  So the bank and townies raised hell with their reps, who raised hell with Ben Bernanke, and it’s all fixed…at least until the next audit, where they will doubtless find gross financial irregularities.

Note: there had not been any actual discrimination. Mr. Goldstein hadn’t been told, “Well, can’t you get the money from your own people? They’re all rich, ain’t they?” And it’s a private business…not that there’s really any such a thing in the fascist banking system. And yes, I’m cynical about screaming public religiosity, especially in an industry whose current kosherness is dubious. But it’s their bank. And that’s how they do in Perkins. Isn’t diversity good?

Sicko banned in Cuba

Isn’t this a pretty little WikiLeak? Almost makes the rest of Assange’s bullshit worthwhile:

…when the film was shown to a group of Cuban doctors, some became so “disturbed at the blatant misrepresentation of healthcare in Cuba that they left the room”.

Castro’s government apparently went on to ban the film because, the leaked cable claims, it “knows the film is a myth and does not want to risk a popular backlash by showing to Cubans facilities that are clearly not available to the vast majority of them.”

I wonder how the Left will wish that one away.