Whaling Protester Held in Custody

It’s inevitable that one of these idiot protesters is going to get someone killed.

An anti-whaling activist from New Zealand was being held in custody on a Japanese whaling vessel Tuesday after secretly boarding it the day before as part of a protest, the whalers said.

Diplomats in New Zealand and Tokyo have been meeting to discuss what to do with Peter Bethune, who jumped aboard the Shonan Maru 2 from a Jet Ski on Monday with the stated goal of making a citizen’s arrest of the ship’s captain and handing over a $3 million bill for the destruction of his protest ship last month.

Basketball Results

Oh, it was not good.

Background, our 10 year old daughter is on a 5th and 6th grade basketball team at school. Tonight, her sadistic coaches (who are otherwise two very nice men who do an amazing job) decided to have a mother/daughter basketball game.

I’m pretty sure that the last time I ever played in a game of basketball was in about 1988 when I was an 8th grader during a recess when it was raining outside and we were forced to play in the gym and all the little wiggly scooters and jump ropes were taken and I had a teacher who insisted that we all move during recess. I am equally certain that I faked an injury during the basketball unit of my lifetime sports class in high school.

So I asked for your advice, and you gave it. You wisely told me not to shoot—no matter what, to wear a sports bra, and to wear bling. Of all the advice to follow, I chose to wear the bling, well, my wedding ring. IT DIDN’T WORK.

This is what went down. We had to play against our daughters. Thankfully, my daughter’s growth seems to be stunted a bit, and she is about chest height. She got the ball, and put up a shot. It bounced off the rim, and by chance (and only by chance!), the ball landed in between my hands, which happened to be about the same width apart as the size of a basketball. HOW DID THAT HAPPEN?! So, reflexively, to follow other advice of a well-intentioned commenter, I got rid of it. Up. And against the backboard. And there it hovered, on the little orange metal piece that holds the basket to the board. I’m pretty sure it sat there about 43 seconds before it fell in through the net. Their net. I scored two points for the other team!

Worse, the halftime buzzer buzzed at just that very moment, so the laughing and taunting hung around for the halftime break. Oh dear.

Thankfully, my teammates didn’t hold it against me, and I managed to do okay for the rest of the game. We also had a shooting machine on our team, and managed to win by one point at the very last moment.

So what did I learn? Wear a sports bra, get rid of the ball, and never, EVER shoot the ball!  Thanks for all your advice, and next time I ask for it, I will be sure to follow it to the letter. I did learn, though, that when someone shoots a basket for the other team, the person closest to the shooter gets credit for the points. So at least I helped my kid score.

Now I know.

By the way, as we were walking out to the car, my embarrassment subsided when my daughter turned to me and said, “Thanks for participating.” Then it came back when the first thing she said to her siblings when we got home was, “Mom scored a basket for the WRONG TEAM!”

Evan Bayh Declines to Run

Huh.

Sen. Evan Bayh, D-Indiana, announced Monday afternoon that he will not seek a third term in the Senate - a major blow to Democrats worried about losses in the looming midterm elections.

“Congress is not operating as it should,” Bayh said at a news conference in Indianapolis. There is too much partisanship and “the people’s business is not getting done.”

[...]

But he “hates the Senate (and) hates the left bloggers,” said a friend of the senator who has also served as a longtime adviser. “They are getting their wish (of) pure Democrats in the minority.”

I thought the “purity test” was only an issue for Republicans.

Sign Shenanigans

I always wonder what compels people to do stuff like this.

Word on the street.

Over 45 signs belonging to Ed Duquaine, candidate for 3rd District Alderman, were stolen overnight.

For the second time, Corazzi and Vaneerden signs have appeared without permission on private property located at 18th and Decorah.

Realistically… signs are almost meaningless.  People love them and candidates need to supply them, but almost nobody cares.  I’ve observed one instance of a sign swaying a vote.  We had a neighbor once who told us that he voted for someone for whom we had a sign because he didn’t know who to vote for and he knew we were conservatives.  I’m sure that at least that many people decided to vote against the candidate for the same reason. 

So why mess with people’s signs?  I guess some people are just jerks.

Pronoun Trouble

One of the benefits of working at Six Flags in the 1990s was the opportunity to watch (over and over and over for several months) animated classics like “Rabbit Seasoning.” This particular segment brought many dramatic reenactments by my coworkers.

Wood Challenges Efforts to Oust Him

What?  Is this guy high?  Wait… don’t answer that. 

Rep. Jeff Wood (I-Chippewa Falls) is ready for a fight.

Wood, who faces expulsion from the Legislature for three arrests on driving while under the influence of drugs or alcohol, is raising detailed procedural questions about lawmakers’ powers to throw a colleague out of office.

His move could slow the proceedings against him. A special ethics committee is scheduled to hold a hearing in his case Wednesday, but Wood’s attorney, John Hyland, said last week he did not know if the case could be resolved before Wood’s term in the Legislature ends in January.

The fact is that the Dems who control the Assembly won’t kick him out until they don’t need his vote anymore.