The conservative mindset. The liberal mindset.

This half of a Pogo cartoon strip by Walt Kelly says it all:



Photographed from the framed original on display at the Mustard Museum in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin.



Why is that cartoon at the Mustard Museum? The other half of the strip mentions mustard twice, and the Mustard Museum has diverse things mentioning mustard...


(Enlarge.)

... plus a lot of mustard:



In case you're wondering about the second half of the strip: The mouse goes on to say, "Bong! Bong! Bong! Corned beef on rye on the nose and all is mustard." The alligator (Albert) says, "A delicious time of day." And the rabbit says, "Some time call! Corned beef on rye on the nose an' all is mustard! What's that amount to?" The mouse answers, "To you, a buck fifty, with java, two clams even." So the old Father Time character says, "Strike that liberal."

IN THE COMMENTS: More than one commenter doesn't understand the comic strip, and I explain it here.

And here's a link to the Mustard Museum website.

Jonah gets a bad sandwich.

Jonah Goldberg says:

The other night, while eating a cold, dry semi-stale ham sandwich that I had purchased from a Wolfgang Puck Express station at  O'Hare airport, I wrote on my Twitter feed (I just can't say "I tweeted" with a straigh face. It sounds like someone is too delicate to admit they passed gas)...

Just don't "straigh" too far from the subject of your post. It's sandwiches. Sandwiches and selling out...

By the way, I think the expression "passed gas" is too delicate, so feel free to use the expression "I tweeted" next time you fart.

"Is there any top professional in any industry who has sold his soul more completely than Wolfgang Puck? he puts his name on airport crap."

I got some interesting responses. Some defend Puck on the grounds that he is in fact a great chef and "cashing in" isn't the same thing as "selling out."

I like when a celebrity chef risks his name on a fast-food franchise. He'll be motivated to make sure it's good. So Wolfgang owes Jonah a sandwich. I'm glad there are somewhat better places to eat in airports now, and I hope they get even better. Meanwhile, my experience with the Puck brand was eating here 2 nights in a row, the night before and the night after Meade and I got married on a mountain in Colorado. It was fabulous! The meals (and everything else).

Back to Jonah. He's trying to draw a distinction about good and bad cashing in, and he asks readers who is "America's number 1 sellout." But there are no comments over at The Corner, so feel free to answer that question here. And let's hear about some good sandwiches.


(Photo of an old mustard ad, which was covered in plastic and under bad fluorescent lighting at the Mustard Museum.)

Bathtub mustard, fungus...

I was out and about with my cameras yesterday in the vicinity of Mount Horeb. After focusing on fungus with my fisheye...


(Photo by Meade.)

... I was peeping at the Bathtub Venus at the Mustard Museum: