Althouse: At the Mendota Café...

August 15, 2011

At the Mendota Café...

... it's clear sailing from here.

41 comments:

traditionalguy said...: I love water.; 8/15/11, 1:27 PM
Triangle Man said...: That was a great day for sailing, whenever it was.

Current conditions:

Air temperature 75.9 F
Water temperature 78.9 F
Winds 1.8 mph NNW; 8/15/11, 1:28 PM
edutcher said...: Very nice view, although it could also be a beach in Hawaii (big island or Oahu) or near Puerto Vallarta, just as easily.

PS Please tell me that was shot in the last 24 hours.; 8/15/11, 1:34 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: You sly thing Althouse.

Saw the movie you recommended Wisconsin Death Trip and the state mental hospital was named Mendota too. So you are calling all of us crazies huh? :); 8/15/11, 1:38 PM
David said...: Mendota is the lake, you crazy.; 8/15/11, 1:40 PM
Patrick said...: http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/127751463.html"

WEAC lays off 40% of its employees. If you're Garage, I suppose this means the end of the world, and that education cannot possibly be good any longer.

I suspect it will mean quite the opposite.; 8/15/11, 1:41 PM
Carol_Herman said...: What's Mendota?

Is it an Indian burial site?; 8/15/11, 1:47 PM
Anonymous said...: "WEAC lays off 40% of its employees."

While I am sad as the thought of some depressing and worried conversations in those homes tonight:

hopefully they'll be able to quickly move from the unproductive, rent-seeking jobs they had to good, meaningful jobs that raise America's aggregate productivity.

It had to end sometime. Postponing it would only have meant more would taken a bigger sometime in the future.; 8/15/11, 1:53 PM
Patrick said...: Having been laid off myself, I feel bad for those losing jobs. Nevertheless, it causes me to grin when market forces cause the unions to behave as businesses. Because I'm going to guess that the top union officials won't take much of a pay cut, if any.; 8/15/11, 1:56 PM
Scott M said...: My daughter (7) stunned us when she suggested we give her teddy bear, Rupert, to her baby brother (almost 2). Rupert was named in homage to Family Guy, but, what's really funny about that, is that I never considered for a second that Seth McFarlane might have been making fun of his boss.; 8/15/11, 2:01 PM
pm317 said...: 'clear sailing' for whom? Perry? His wife is gorgeous. What is with all these republican women being so beautiful? Is it all make up which liberal women are loathe to wear?; 8/15/11, 2:01 PM
Trooper York said...: I thought Mendota was the Puerto Rican singing group with the revolving cast of gay kids.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.; 8/15/11, 2:02 PM
David said...: "Among the other details now surfacing about the Utoya spree was the confirmation from police that Breivik, 32, called police several times over the course of the massacre to surrender. According to Norwegian media reports, the police did not at first take him seriously."

--Laura Rozen, writing at The Envoy.; 8/15/11, 2:03 PM
David said...: "What's Mendota? Is it an Indian burial site?"

Burial at sea.; 8/15/11, 2:04 PM
Tyrone Slothrop said...: I never liked lake sailing as much as in the good old Pacific-- too limited. Of course, I never used the whole ocean, but there was always the notion that
I could.; 8/15/11, 2:09 PM
David said...: The Native Americans did not call it Lake Mendota. Apparently the lake's name is derived from the Dakota language, and means "Great Lake." That name was suggested by a white surveyor in the 1850's. However, the predominant local tribe was the Winnebago. They called the lake "Wonk-shek-ho-mik-la," meaning, “Where the man lies.”

Somehow the Winnebago were able to predict that the area would be the Big Teepee for the Whites, where the big and little chiefs would meet and tell each other falsehoods.; 8/15/11, 2:15 PM
Chuck66 said...: I feel for people losing their jobs. I had a job go to India once and even with the severance, it is quite an upseting event.

I have been checking WEACs web site off and on over the past year. They are obsessed with getting Republicans out of office. WEAC has organized many of the loud screaming protests at events where Governor Walker has been speaking (such as Racine Tech College).

I guess now we know why. Their business model was unsustainable. It required manditory membership by employees of Wisc public schools. Not exactly a good monopoly to preserve.; 8/15/11, 2:16 PM
Alex said...: Where is Titus? I want to hear his latest report about his Indian husband and rare clumbers. Also if his air quality problem was fixed.; 8/15/11, 2:19 PM
Chuck66 said...: WEAC spent $1,700,000 on just 4 state senate races last fall, going 1 for 4. They spent another $1,600,000 on 3 or so of the recall elections. I wonder how many of those layed off employees they could have kept if they wouldn't have thrown so much money away on political bashing over the past 12 months. If I were a laid off employee, I would look at legal options for mismanagment of union resources.

Any lawyers out there know that law on this? Can a so-called non-profit union be liable for mismanagment of money? Or is it fine since the teachers are okay with this political spending.; 8/15/11, 2:21 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Oh, Mendota is a lake as well as a mental hospital. I did not know that. Thanks David [so I guess Alhouse does not think we are crazies afterall].; 8/15/11, 2:26 PM
Curious George said...: "Patrick said...
http://www.jsonline.com/blogs/news/127751463.html"

Looks like more than few teachers aren't paying their dues.

Nothing lasts forever!
Voluntary dues never!
WEAC layoffs whatever!
Cha ching is now our song!; 8/15/11, 2:27 PM
Chuck66 said...: I am on the board of directors for a non-profit. We fight to get and retain every member.

WEAC is finding out what it is like to have to sell people on your organization, not just have manditory membership.

The real world is always much more difficult than the gov't world.; 8/15/11, 2:31 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Unions are corporations right? And they get fat and happy just like any other profitable corporation. But then they they hit leaner times and have to cut jobs.

It's the normaly cycle of life for every successful corporation.

[Yes I know the word "corporation" used to denote a librul group will drive libruls nuts].; 8/15/11, 2:43 PM
alan markus said...: One of the better comments over at JSOnline, re WEAC layoffs:

"All that they would have to is increase revenue (union dues) and they would be able to avoid laying these people off!!"; 8/15/11, 3:00 PM
chickelit said...: You guys are all mental and belong in Mendota!
__________
wv = disme: A real word! The half disme, issued in 1792, was considered the US goverment's first sovereign coin. Somewhere along the line the word lost its "s" and became our beloved "dime."; 8/15/11, 3:05 PM
Irene said...: "[WEAC] has been working to stay relevant".

Haha; 8/15/11, 3:08 PM
chickelit said...: PS: note the very chicken-like fowl on the back of that coin.; 8/15/11, 3:10 PM
Chip S. said...: [so I guess Alhouse does not think we are crazies afterall].

Not crazy, but perhaps all wet.

wv: undem Will either of two Wisconsin state senate districts go undem tomorrow?; 8/15/11, 3:16 PM
Scott M said...: Will either of two Wisconsin state senate districts go undem tomorrow?

If so, it would be tough to refute the notion that WI wants what Walker and the GOP are doing, wouldn't it?; 8/15/11, 3:32 PM
Chip S. said...: If so, it would be tough to refute the notion that WI wants what Walker and the GOP are doing, wouldn't it?

Yes.

But it will be highly entertaining to watch garage try.; 8/15/11, 3:48 PM
garage mahal said...: Glenn Beck's favorite 2nd amendment childrens book author will not win tomorrow.; 8/15/11, 3:51 PM
Chip S. said...: I had to google that to see what you were referring to, and discovered that she's published two books.

She's got Obama-level qualifications for a legislative seat in some cheesy backwater of a state.

I realize that her books are written for children, but then Obama's books are written for people with childlike credulity, so that seems like a wash.; 8/15/11, 3:59 PM
Chip Ahoy said...: There seems to be one single bee visiting my cucumber patch which spans the balcony along with other things, mostly flowers. The vines are very attractive and interesting with their dark pendent vegetables. Along with a single wasp. But I'm not sure the wasp counts. Some of the cucumbers are growing crookedly.

A page I read yesterday and cannot find today says that crooked cucumbers are the result of poor pollination. But I can not blame that one little bee because she's out there working her butt off going in and out of all those flowers . So, all I can do is accept a few bent cucumbers and say, "You hang in there there little buzzer and keep doing the best you can."; 8/15/11, 4:03 PM
garage mahal said...: She's got Obama-level qualifications

Keep dreaming.; 8/15/11, 4:05 PM
edutcher said...: The Blonde and I both lost our jobs at various points. Welcome to growing old in America.

I do feel for the people who have families and are in their late 30s to early 50s. That has to be scary as Hell.

pm317 said...

'clear sailing' for whom? Perry? His wife is gorgeous. What is with all these republican women being so beautiful? Is it all make up which liberal women are loathe to wear?

No, hate makes people ugly and Lefty women are required to hate so many people for so many reasons, it corrodes them from the inside out.

PS If Althouse does think we're crazy, that must make her Nurse Ratchet.; 8/15/11, 4:10 PM
Chip S. said...: Keep dreaming.

--Words of fatherly advice to young Barack.; 8/15/11, 4:11 PM
ricpic said...: From Lake Chautauqua to Lake Mendota
And all the lakes between,
Though lovely there's a lack in the vista
Until a sail is seen.; 8/15/11, 4:20 PM
Phil 314 said...: A powerful, disturbing article. (via Insta via The Atlantic via Commentary); 8/15/11, 5:58 PM
rhhardin said...: An Armstrong and Getty listener texts a question for guest Clark Howard: "Is it cheaper to have a wife or a prostitute?"

Plan of the day is to get Howard to flush a $5 bill down the toilet. "It would be good for you to learn to let go."; 8/15/11, 6:53 PM
traditionalguy said...: I listened to Obama's speech clips, and Obama made a perfect score of one lie for each sentence spoken.

The dude is actually whining for sympathy because the mean Tea Party House members are refusing his tax increases.

Birth certificate or not, Obama is from another planet.

Can a Judicial Hospitalization be ordered for him by a Probate Court before he withers away?; 8/15/11, 7:04 PM
ricpic said...: I remember Crown Heights. The real horror was the way Dinkins and Lee Brown stood back and let the pogrom play out. It was a horror because it finally became clear that not only was the state not going to protect the Jews, it was their enemy. Absolutely no difference now with the black race riots in Milwaukee and Philadelphia. The flash mobs and wilding will go into overdrive next summer and Obama and Holder will just stand back watching whitey get his well deserved beating. And just as the Times was even handed between wolves and sheep so the entire MSM will be scrupulously "fair" in its coverage of naked black attacks on whites. Don't expect the beautiful academics to say a word either.; 8/15/11, 7:38 PM