July 7, 2012

The Madness of Madison.

State Street, today:

Untitled

ME (reading aloud, to my companion): Walker is not above the law and will go to prison.

CHALKING MAN (to me): It's true! John Doe!

ME (to the chalking man): Live the fantasy. (To my companion:) The madness of Madison.

One hour earlier — about a block from there — we walked past a man who was lying supine on a low concrete wall. Eyes closed, he intoned repeatedly:
I am a good slave
Free to a good owner
I will obey my master

59 comments:

Patrick said...

I hope Garage enjoyed his day out!

PJ/Maryland said...

A free slave? That might be the very definition of "you get what you pay for."

Chip S. said...

I always associate chalk drawings with insightful commentary.

Best one I ever saw was "Mrs. Leery is a mean old lady," back in second grade, under a stick figure of a witch ridng a broom. I didn't notice at the time that her name was misspelled.

Patrick said...

Like the investigation itself, the Salon article is filled with innuendo and nothing else.

leslyn said...

Love, love, love the chalk drawing! What fun! Walker is irrelevant; he's just the excuse for the fun and imagination.

It's State Street. What do you expect? Grim law professors?

Nice to be able to get outside again.

ed said...

You really have some serious headcases up there in Wisconsin.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

From Hitler to irrelevant.

Palladian said...

Villian!

Larry J said...

Chip S. said...
I always associate chalk drawings with insightful commentary


I always associate chalk drawings with little children. Sounds about right for the mindset of liberals...

Jason (the commenter) said...

Let them have their art, for they have nothing else.

Jason (the commenter) said...

Althouse should have informed the man asking to be enslaved that that sort of thing was outlawed, due to the efforts of "evil" Republicans.

Chip S. said...

What do you expect? Grim law professors?

What I expect is pretty much what's in the pic.

What I'd consider sane would be people enjoying a beautiful day w/o being consumed by politics--especially politics that's thoroughly played out.

Ann Althouse said...

"What fun! Walker is irrelevant; he's just the excuse for the fun and imagination."

Why is it fun to lust for someone to go to prison?

I see a lot of that from liberals. It's not pretty. It's the sort of thing liberals once abhorred -- the use of the criminal law for political persecution.

Would you think it fun if people wrote on the sidewalk of their desire to see you in prison?

I remember when liberals had very high standards about using criminal law to achieve political goals.

Ann Althouse said...

As for fun, I'm having my fun here.

Patrick said...

Aww c'mon, Leslyn. You don't really see the Professor as "grim," do you?

Palladian said...

I remember when liberals had very high standards about using criminal law to achieve political goals.

Sadly, I don't remember that. I guess, at 37, I'm not old enough.

Patrick said...

I would think the guy writing on the street hoping for the Governor's imprisonment is grim, not the Professor.

SteveR said...

It's the sort of thing liberals once abhorred -- the use of the criminal law for political persecution.

And the sort of thing they are unable to recognize about themselves. Ironic being how much smarter they consider themselves to be.

Jason (the commenter) said...

Althouse: I remember when liberals had very high standards about using criminal law to achieve political goals.

Palladian: Sadly, I don't remember that. I guess, at 37, I'm not old enough.

You'll see those standards expressed whenever liberals are in power and conservatives try using criminal law against them.

Palladian said...

Can you imagine being the sort of person who thinks that gibbering about politicians is fun and imaginative?

Jason (the commenter) said...

Palladian: Can you imagine being the sort of person who thinks that gibbering about politicians is fun and imaginative?

I'm a commenter on Althouse's blog, so yes.

Palladian said...

The key difference is chalk, Jason.

Also, here we titter rather than gibber.

ndspinelli said...

This State Street in Madison. The city has had a huge uptick in violent crime and the curmudgeon mayor is focused on cabs cruising State Street, which they are not supposed to do. Someone should give him a fucking fiddle.

garage mahal said...

It's the sort of thing liberals once abhorred -- the use of the criminal law for political persecution.

There has already been one felony conviction, and a plea deal. Three more are going through the court system right now. Was that persecution? Conservatives think this DA was supposed to just look away at what he found even when laws were broken? So much for the law and order party.

Palladian said...

Poor garage. It's really been a tough year for him, and I don't think it's going to be getting any better.

leslyn said...

"What I'd consider sane would be people enjoying a beautiful day w/o being consumed by politics--especially politics that's thoroughly played out."

What are you doing here?

ndspinelli said...

Palladian, I told Garage where he can get Nathans hot dogs. He should get some joy out of that. The poor guy is like those Jap soldiers on deserted islands still fighting WW2 in the 1950's.

Chip S. said...

ah hahaha, leslyn. Good one.

Seriously, you think it's necessary to be inside in order to go online? Do you use a dial-up modem to connect via your landline?

kcom said...

I'm losing track, but wasn't the indictment supposed to come through during the week of the election? Wasn't the imminency a legit reason for voting against Scott Walker?

Chip S. said...

Oh, I forgot to answer your question, leslyn...

What are you doing here?

Taking a couple of minutes out of a pleasant day to mock leftards like, um, well...

Time now to get up out of my chair, shut down my Dell Dimension, and go outside.

Palladian said...

It's too stinking hot to go outside.

MadisonMan said...

So do you own a slave now?

leslyn said...

Patrick said,

Aww c'mon, Leslyn. You don't really see the Professor as "grim," do you?

Aww c'mon Patrick, you were apparently writing while Althouse was "having fun" putting up her previous two posts.

Grim AND sensitive. (snarky, too)


I think "lust" is a bit strong, Prof, but whatever floats your boat.

Why would I care if that were my name instead of Walker's? Like I said--irrelevant. The fun is the chalk drawing. Anyway, I was in law enforcement for many years--lots of people wanted worse than jail. Ehhh. Nothing personal.

Palladian said...

In my world, asking to be some stranger's slave has entirely different connotations.

garage mahal said...

Poor garage. It's really been a tough year for him, and I don't think it's going to be getting any better.

I'm sure you would relish the thought of me having a tough year, bcuz that's what floats your boat, but actually, it's been another good year for me personally.

jeff said...

Glad it's been a good year for you garage, but your game in here has seriously suffered. I was in Madison a couple of weeks ago, I looked for this sort of thing and couldn't find any. So we went out on the lake instead.

Ann Althouse said...

"So do you own a slave now?"

You know, clearly slavery is horribly wrong and evil, etc. etc.

BUT... seeing that guy made me contemplate how awful it would be to have a slave. What if someone implored you to take him on as a slave? That was his preference. Wouldn't it be awful?

Ann Althouse said...

Years ago, when my younger son was a child, he gave me, as a Christmas present, a certificate entitling me to have him as a slave for one day.

I still have the certificate. Much as I would like to have some chores done, the idea of commanding them from a slavedriver position is just so unsavory. Even as a joke.

Ann Althouse said...

"In my world, asking to be some stranger's slave has entirely different connotations."

Like Mr. Slave on "South Park"?

This guy was relatively young, wearing shorts, and had a lot of tattoos and piercings.

Palladian said...

This guy was relatively young, wearing shorts, and had a lot of tattoos and piercings.

Were they leather shorts?

Kevin said...

Dude needs to learn how to spell "villain" properly.

JAL said...

Union educated speller?

Freeman Hunt said...

I wonder what would happen if you commanded the slave guy to clean up the picture drawn by the chalk guy.

JAL said...

You know the slavery thing must be in the more recent DNC playbooks as it shows up nt he weirdestplaces.

There's a video out there of some guy cursing Allen West (in front of kids, from what I can figure out) and he is questioned by the videographer... and he starts talking about slavery.

What?

ANd I can't remember them all, but it seems like that is the pattern these days. Sort of like when "gravitas" showed up in all the Dem / lefty comments and speeches back in one of the Bush elections. Weird.

So what is the love affair with the left for the slavery meme all of a sudden? (The guy above was nonplussed when informed that Abraham Lincoln was a Republican. Not to mention that the Dems were more opposed to the Civil Rights Act than the Republicans. Ask Algore.)

Got your panties in a wad over slavery? Go to Somalia and the Sudan and do something about it.

Freeman Hunt said...

Someone should set the slave guy to doing chores, telling him that he is to continue working until he emancipates himself. Probably would not take long for him to decide that freedom is pretty cool.

ddh said...

I have had the same sense of mental vertigo about liberals' attachment to principle that Ann describes.

The most appallingly bigoted things that I ever hear (racism; homophobia; sexism; prejudice against Jews, evangelical Christians, and Mormons) come from the mouths of self-identified liberals/progressives. Liberals once argued that equality before the law meant the equal application of legal processes, and now liberals want to ignore laws that get in the way of what they want. Liberals once argued that the First Amendment requires us to allow Nazis to parade in Skokie, but now they talk about using law and regulation to force Fox News off cable systems and throw Rupert Murdoch into jail.

Liberalism/progressivism has become a hollow shell. Principle seems to have lost out to tribalism--i.e., cheering for your team, right or wrong. And the team's only real cause is winning the power to tell other people how they must live. I think that's why some liberals envy Communist China's leaders and why others want to control the size of your soft drink.

ed said...

@ Jason (the commenter)

"You'll see those standards expressed whenever liberals are in power and conservatives try using criminal law against them."

You mean like when liberals actually break the law?

*gasp* how rude!

edutcher said...

These people need to stay indoors in the hot weather. It really plays havoc with minds that are shaky, to begin with.

leslyn said...

Love, love, love the chalk drawing! What fun! Walker is irrelevant; he's just the excuse for the fun and imagination.

Can't wait to hear leslyn as President Walker is inaugurated.

For his second term.

Palladian said...

I remember when liberals had very high standards about using criminal law to achieve political goals.

Sadly, I don't remember that. I guess, at 37, I'm not old enough.


Way before your time.

Try the Kennedy Administration.

Jason (the commenter) said...

Freeman Hunt: Someone should set the slave guy to doing chores, telling him that he is to continue working until he emancipates himself. Probably would not take long for him to decide that freedom is pretty cool.

Knowing the type, I have a feeling it would be very hard to get him to do any actual work.

leslyn said...

Love, love, love the chalk drawing! What fun! Walker is irrelevant; he's just the excuse for the fun and imagination.

Can't wait to hear leslyn as President Walker is inaugurated. For his second term.

Well, by then I should be pretty good at chalk drawings. I believe I shall become a performance artist.

Really, though, I think Walker has too much baggage to be anything other than a stalking horse for the Republican Party.

Oh, one more thing on chalk drawings: WHAT ABOUT THE 1st AMENDMENT, ya big babies!

Michelle Dulak Thomson said...

Graffiti artists (whether working in temporary or permanent media) never can spell. Our resident Maoists at UC/Berkeley (the folks behind Revolution Books) were prolific of graffiti, but they misspelled something every time. If you're going to "light a prairie fire for revolution," it's as well to be able to spell "prairie." And similarly, here, if you're going to call out "villains," it does help if you can spell "villain."

Someone meaner than I would probably say that this is what you get out of a unionized public education system. But I wouldn't do that.

Patrick said...

Leslyn, if you become a performance artist, I've got a loft in Soho for you.

leslyn said...

Patrick! I love you! But only if the loft is coming from another artist. I have principles, you know.

And how could I live with myself as a performance artist if I became just another one of the 99%?

leslyn said...

Michelle D-T,

I love the "villian!" And the "hero" on the other side. And the circly legs. And the round exclamation point. And the long blue color stretching down the street.

That must have been some weed.

JAL said...

@ MDT Someone meaner than I would probably say that this is what you get out of a unionized public education system. But I wouldn't do that.

I already did. So did someone else.

;-)

Curious George said...

"garage mahal said...
There has already been one felony conviction..."

Seriously dude you going there again?

Matt Sablan said...

"Really, though, I think Walker has too much baggage to be anything other than a stalking horse for the Republican Party."

-- If Obama wins reelection with a larger margin than he initially won with, I'm going to say he has too much baggage too.

leslyn said...

Curious George said... "garage mahal said... There has already been one felony conviction...

Seriously dude you going there again?

Why not? It ain't over 'til it's over, and it ain't over.

Curious George said...

"leslyn said...
Why not? It ain't over 'til it's over, and it ain't over."

Actually I was referring to the felony conviction...