Already you've gotta kinda like these guys

Christopher Ketcham, Time - In early October, the Second Maine Militia opened its meeting with the traditional shooting of the televisions....

link: The Coastal Packet: LEFT, RIGHT AND THE SECOND MAINE MILITIA

Or - could it be? - SAT scores measure how far north you live

I maintain that Congress would do better work if it moved to Buffalo, N.Y., and the Honorables had to experience blizzards and snow shoveling and cold weather, which stimulate intelligence -- SAT scores rise as you approach the Canadian border.

link: Garrison Keillor - Salon.com

Can't wait to read the memo for myself

"A chagrined GOP Chairman Michael Steele has told Republican National Committee staff to immediately stop providing RNC employees with insurance for elective abortions — an option that Republicans strongly oppose as Democrats try to pass a health care overhaul bill," the Associated Press reports.

link: GOP bigwigs’ health insurance covers elective abortions: report | Raw Story

A man named Doc, right

Having breakfast this morning at a place called Brad's somehow resulted in my spending half the remaining morning trying to remember the first line of this Nelson Algren quote:

Never play cards with a man named Doc,
never eat at a place called Mom's,
and never sleep with a woman whose troubles are greater than your own.

Finally, I had to resort to Google. Which means, of course, maybe he said that and maybe he didn't but pretty close.

Not counting the cheese

A factoid contributed by Formerly From California (And Now From Wisconsin) Charlie:

A recent study found the average Wisconsinite walks about 900 miles a year.

Another study found Wisconsinites drink, on average, 22 gallons of beer a year.

That means, on average, Wisconsinites get about 41 miles to the gallon.

Like, you know, in ancient times

“It’s part of the charm of the neighborhood,” she said. “There’s still a very old Italian contingent here that lives the way they lived 40 years ago....

link: Window Watchers in a City of Strangers - NYTimes.com

Color scheme or paint sale: You decide

Autumn Almost Over

Photo: Phil Compton

Start 'em young

WASHINGTON — The school newspaper at Dalton, a private school in Manhattan, contained a cryptic note from its editors last Friday.

“We are not able to cover the recent visit by a Supreme Court justice due to numerous publication constraints,” the note said. It promised “an explanation of the regrettable delay” in the next issue.

It turns out that Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, widely regarded as one of the court’s most vigilant defenders of First Amendment values, had provided the newspaper, The Daltonian, with a lesson about journalistic independence. Justice Kennedy’s office had insisted on approving any article about a talk he gave to an assembly of Dalton high school students on Oct. 28.

link: Justice Anthony M. Kennedy Asks School Paper to 'Tidy Up' Remarks - NYTimes.com

Neither public nor optional

The “public option” in the president's health care bill is like the “clean” in clean coal.

link: If Democrats Don't Pass Health Insurance Reform This Year, What Do We Lose? And What Do We Gain? | Black Agenda Report

Up against the wall

Giant aluminum bugs from outer space eat Chicago

Or maybe this is just a picture of the concert stage at Chicago's Millennium Park.

No laughing matter

The point is that the takeover of the Republican Party by the irrational right is no laughing matter. Something unprecedented is happening here — and it’s very bad for America.

link: Op-Ed Columnist - Paranoia Strikes Deep - NYTimes.com

Noted by our Midwest Bureau

One for the road

From a collection of painted (yeah, I know there's a name for the style but I have not even a clue on how to spell it) trucks forwarded by Formerly From California Charlie.