As IF Times

link Republican Congress: Good riddance to Pelosis compostable flatware at the House cafeteria – latimes.com.

This is such an entertaining piece solely on its own, no editorial needed.  It’s worthwhile to note that the author writes for the LA Times, usually a left oriented newspaper, so for an article like this to appear about the aftermath of Pelosi’s insanity is meaningful.  Rumor has it that Toyota Prius cars sold in San Francisco cater to the zealots there by offering models without right hand turn signals.  The amusing part of this article is the revelation that not only were the conservation measures not conserving anything, the emissions of methane from composting were actually more than any carbon residual.  Not only that but,

“…It turns out that the composting program not only cost the House an estimated $475,000 a year (according to the House inspector general) but actually increased energy consumption in the form of “additional energy for the pulping process and the increased hauling distance to the composting facility,” according to a news release…”

Actually, the Chinese solved this problem a while ago.  Only downside would be that everyone would have  to learn to use chopsticks.  People may want to think twice when some visionary decides it’s a good idea to make people contort their every day lives in pursuit of some quixotic green goal.  For example, the technique of imposing a tax on bottles has the desired intent of making people return these items to the recycler rather than toss them in the trash.  Sounds like a good idea, except that typically, people haul their recyclables to the depot in the trunk of their cars or SUV’s, burning gasoline and spewing emissions in the process.  For the sake of getting 4 or 5 bucks back for bottles, you spend maybe half of that on gasoline to get there (also subject to rapacious taxes ) plus having to jostle with the lineup of others doing the same thing on a Saturday.  This quickly gets tiresome and so eventually, you forsake the few dollars and just place them in the recycle bin for pick up.  Net, another tax grab in the name of green. 

The best part of the article describes the conscience assuaging descriptions of the food served during Nancy’s reign.

 “…One sign reminded you that the beef in the hamburgers was “humanely raised” and “antibiotic-free.” Other placards touted “cage-free eggs” and “rBGH-free milk…”

I guess you have to take their word for it, but never underestimate the willingness of the naive public to masturbate their conscience.  We’ve all been exposed by now to ‘free trade’ coffee, free range chickens and dolphin free tuna.  It’s only a matter of time before restaurants capitalize on these sensibilities and offer meat that has been offered by animals voluntarily.  We don’t know how Nancy structures her eating habits at home, but I would hazard to guess that a popular dish served is the Delusional Stew.   This is probably washed down by organic wine harvested from grapes by union workers.  Naturally, this will be expensive.  Not everyone can afford such indulgence.  For all the other believers, there is always Kool-Aid.

link Bloc tells Harper to pay up or face voters.

How refreshing in this day and age of euphemisms and mealy mouthed references that we have a politician who is prepared to be absolutely candid.  Most people will agree with the refrain that honesty is what we want to see in people running for political office.  Of course this would go against traditions going back thousands of years encompassing scores of nations.  Expecting honesty in politics would be as realistic as depending on Al Gore for the weather forecast.

Saying one thing to get elected and then doing the opposite when in office doesn’t even register on the meter of  gauging  political honesty.  That’s for amateurs and newbies. Those people are still on their political training wheels.   No, the really brazen ones implement  policy and then describe it as exactly the opposite of what it is even when it’s patently obvious that it’s a big fib.  Just as a random example, we can point to a certain nation that has run up the largest deficit in the history of the world and somehow, it’s portrayed as the most fiscally responsible government ever.  The same administration advertises that they are reducing taxes for the public, while pushing for tax increases and expanding expensive entitlements.   One of the best ones is claiming to push for jobs in the private sector, while actually shovelling money at growing and entrenching the public sector through union payouts and cumbersome and invasive agencies.   As portrayed in a previous post, it is the brazen technique of nailing  a dead parrot to a perch and then claim that it’s sleeping.

So for Gilles Duceppe, the Quebec based leader of the Blockhead Quebecois to brazenly state just what he wants is a refreshing bit of candor.  Gives us money or else.  That is the platform.  How elegantly simple.  For centuries, the argument for money to be wheel-barrowed into Quebec was justified by the rationale of maintaining culture, of recognizing the importance of a founding people.  The distribution of seats in the federal government was long ago designed so that Quebec would have a dominant say in federal affairs.  This of course has led to a string of Prime Ministers with the french connection who have essentially monopolized that office for the past 5 generations.   Now, with one of the few effective leaders ever hailing from the West in Stephen Harper, the mafia like reach of Quebec is exerting their influence once again.

Now, they don’t even veil their demands in the righteous cause of culture preservation, it’s just cash.  It’s ironic that in France, the home of french culture, the institutions and traditions there are being chipped away by immigration, globalization and common sense.  In fact, I was informed by a Quebecois gentleman named Sylvain, that nowadays in France, they don’t call a traditional breakfast fruit, pamplemouse anymore, they call it le grapefruit!    So this has little to do with preserving cultural integrity, but more to do with getting a bigger piece of le tarte, par d’extorsion de fonds if necessary.  But at least he’s honest about it.  I’m reminded of a picture sent to me a while ago in which a hobo is holding up a sign which stated ” need money for beer” and underneath it in smaller type, it read “hey, why lie!”  Plus ca change, plus ca meme.