Althouse: At the Circus Bear Café...

February 22, 2013

At the Circus Bear Café...

(Via Drawn.)

... it's not as if you can get back to nature.

44 comments:

rcommal said...: Nonsense.

Here is one of the various of my favorite out-of-context sentences:

"He was fortunate therefore that in the short fierce era between 1939 and 1945 he had met people who had summoned forth his deeper talents."; 2/22/13, 10:03 PM
madAsHell said...: I bought several boxes of 9mm in September for $13/per 50 rounds. Yesterday, I bought the same box of 9mm for $22.

All the 22LR was gone.

I blame Barack Hussein Obama.; 2/22/13, 10:13 PM
rcommal said...: Also I did notice the whole uRSUS on Vimeo thing in the url thang, and just thereafter, the URSUS, etc.; 2/22/13, 10:26 PM
Wince said...: Why wouldn't the ducks eat his bread?

Did they fear his scent?; 2/22/13, 10:36 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: You Can't Go Home Again.; 2/22/13, 10:40 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: Why wouldn't the ducks eat his bread?

The saw him as a sellout.; 2/22/13, 10:41 PM
Irene said...: Latvian child releases true heart of a bear stifled by the Soviet striped yoke.

("Striped" is a derogatory adjective in Russian. When my Grandmother grew angry with me, she called me a "striped devil."); 2/22/13, 10:42 PM
edutcher said...: Been waiting for a cafe to put this up for the general speculation of all and sundry.

Insta put up this piece by Andrew Malcolm (nobody's alarmist) on the way the small c communist has been sacking Army generals (Petraeus and McChrystal among them) who aren't yes-men. There's also the issue of James Mattis.

All this comes on the heels of speculation a key litmus test for this Administration is which officers would fire on US civilians and, yes, I was skeptical in the extreme, but this is given some credence by the fact a company has won a US government contract for targets showing gun-toting children, pregnant women, and old people.

While the usual Lefty jackasses will bray as if it's the most impossible thing in the world, others might want to recall how Wesley Clark became Willie's favorite general.

Waco ring a bell?; 2/22/13, 10:46 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: While Senator Feinstein has made her mission to try and disarm American Citizens... China has been robing our technology hand over fist.

She is chairmen of the senate select committee on intelligence... wtf is she doing going after her own countrymen while the Chinese are running roughshod all over us.

Roughshod is putting it mildly.; 2/22/13, 11:05 PM
rcommal said...: edutcher:

You, sir, are no Andrew Malcolm.; 2/22/13, 11:10 PM
kentuckyliz said...: Enjoy the decline, bitches.

I think I really don't care any more, because my nieces/nephews are little commies or too cynical to care themselves.

So, let it all go to hell in a hand basket. Who gives a crap any more.

I will enjoy the string quartet as this unsinkable ship goes down.; 2/22/13, 11:46 PM
Shouting Thomas said...: The triumph of feminism defined by Judgy Bitch.

Keep reading. It's about a lot more than Amanda Marcotte. An excerpt:

So, let’s see. Women found being a housewife so terribly dull and dreary and oppressive that they flocked to the labor market to teach children their alphabet, tend to the sick, fold clothes, care for the elderly, cook food, fetch food, clean house and take care of small children. And that’s just all the ladies who couldn’t find a cushy job organizing a man’s professional life.

Organizing, tending, fetching, wiping noses and asses, cooking and cleaning.

Wow. Those are some pretty big ambitions. Kinda makes you wonder, doesn’t it? If it’s not the actual JOB that women dislike, since they clearly don’t mind doing those things for OTHER people, what is it that women didn’t like?; 2/23/13, 12:02 AM
Carnifex said...: KYLIZ!!! That's no way to be...I'm almost through my sulking phase from the election, and am starting to feel outrage again. And I am a great believer in the Neitsche(I know I mispelled it. Don't care!) phrase of "that which doesn't kill you makes you stronger" And the bitchez are those little fucking creepy assed democrats idiots who voted for zero.

In order to lift Liz's spirits I give you..."The Tale of My Birth!!!111!!!!"

Back in the day, when my mom and dad had been married for a couple of years. they moved back to Kentucky. They moved back from Louisiana, where my older sister was born a coon ass.(that's what I was told they are called). During those decades they held the Kentucky State Fair in September because that was a break between the picking of corn, and the cutting of tobacco. The weather is a lot nicer in Kentucky in September too. Breezes, and sunny days. Low humidity. just perfect weather.

Nowadays, they hold the State Fair in the summertime. Ferocious humidity, scorching heat. The beer tents like it. No one else does.

So my mom and dad decide to visit the fair this September evening. Mom was pregnant, and wanted to get out of the house for a while. So they dropped my sister off on my grandparents, and headed to the Fair Grounds.( I call it the Fairgrounds because as far as I know it's always been the Fairgrounds. I don't know of the State Fair being held anywhere else)

On further consideration, I think it must have been my dad wanting to go to the Fair, I can't see my mom wanting to stroll around the cows and Midway in an advanced state of pregnancy. And she was... with me.

So they get there, and start hoofing around. I wasn't at that Fair exactly, but after years of going to the Fair with my dad I figger he prolly did the same thing then as he did when we went. Look at the cows. Look at the sheep. Look at the pigs. Walk the Midway. Buy fudge. Buy corndogs. Go home. In the years of going to the Fair with mom and dad as a child that's what we did.

Again, on further consideration...because this one time, they did something different.

Mom wanted dad to rent a wheelchair, and push her around. Dad poo pooed the idea. She was young, and you can;t really push a wheelchair through cow poop, can you? So he trotted my very pregnant mom around and around and around...I'm sure she thought that was just marvelous.; 2/23/13, 12:11 AM
Carnifex said...: While wandering the midway they came across a sign...not an omen...a sign. Ringling Bros., Barnum, & Bailey's Circus was at Frredom Hall!!!111!!! They had never seen the greatest show on earth!!!! They should go!!!1111!!!

On further consideration, it was an omen...

So they gots their tickes, and took their chances. Actually their seats. And watched as the show started. Elephants, and lion tamers, clowns in cars, and trapeze artists, clowns in big shoes and red noses, and jugglers, and clowns with confetti in a bucket, not water...

Let's look at the confetti ina bucket gag. Clown Number 1 throws a bucket of water on clown number 2. Clown number 2 grabs a bucket, chases clown number 1, and by mistake throws what turns out to be confetti on an unsuspecting audience member. Great laughs are had by all.

So clown number 1 grabs his bucket, and splashes clown number 2. Clown number 2 grabs his bucket, and chases clown number 1 around, and throws a bucket of confetti on my unsuspecting... pregnant...mom.

Here's where the story gets funny. My mom, who was tired and cranky from being dragged though the cow pens, the pig pens, and the sheep pens, wasn't paying as close attention as she might have normally been. So she looks up and sees this pasty faced guy charging at her with a bucket of water, which he throws on her...and she is so startled she, ahhh, jumps? Jumps.

And her water breaks.

And she goes into labor right then.

To have me.

I wish I coulda been there.

Needless to say, the clowns were aghast.

Dad told me the circus people were real helpful getting them outta there. They got her a wheel chair. (I think this was a bone of contention till the day dad died).

Dad drove mom to Old St. Joe's Hospital, which thankfully for MY sake is just blocks away from the Fairgrounds. There I was born, at around 1 am. On the way home dad stopped at White Castle to get some burgers.(this became a family tradition, I would have to go to the hospital for some child injury, we got White Castle's on the way home)

So anyway, I was born, not created in a lab.

But I root for the Joker when I watch Batman for some reason.; 2/23/13, 12:31 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: Cor! Best tale of my birth that I ever read.; 2/23/13, 1:44 AM
Chip Ahoy said...: The ducks didn't eat the bear's bread because it wasn't right. The bear wasn't right. The snail passed by the crumbs too.

Yes, the bear could frighten the circus goers and then go on and do splendid things but he did not fit in at all.

The bear did not know the girl left the flowers. The insect beckoned the inner bear away from its circus. Once in the forest the insect confirmed the choice and led the bear deeper.

But still he did not fit there either.

And then the girl appears again to us but to the bear for the first time. Let down twice by humanity from within and then from without human culture, the bear really should have taken a vicious retaliatory swipe and just mauled and carelessly partially devoured the girl instead of being such a big hairy puss. Very disappointing unsatisfying ending.; 2/23/13, 2:10 AM
edutcher said...: rcommal said...

You, sir, are no Andrew Malcolm.

Considering his perspicacity, neither are you.

I said I was skeptical, but putting the items together does give a thinking man pause.

And that's something else you aren't.; 2/23/13, 5:27 AM
Joe Schmoe said...: Is Bob Woodward calling Obama a liar? 'Cuz it sounds like he's calling him a liar.; 2/23/13, 6:53 AM
Rusty said...: All that dramitic tension.
It woulda been better if he ate the kid.; 2/23/13, 7:18 AM
AllenS said...: I just finished my get back to nature moment this morning when I plowed snow. Enough already!; 2/23/13, 8:18 AM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: I started to get emails from blogger after commenting last night, an email after I commented and an email from everybody after me...

I think I Know what happened.

I was at youtube the other day and a pop up asked me to reconcile the name I have as a youtube subscriber and the name I have as a google subscriber...they are not the same... I said no because I seem to remember saying no before and I was annoyed that they interrupted me with their trivial pursuits... but the pop up questions didn't stop and I wanted to get to where I was going... so I didn't read what I answering and just clicked away to make the little pops go away.

Apparently I've asked for something.; 2/23/13, 8:48 AM
Rusty said...: Rusty said...
All that dramitic tension.
It woulda been better if he ate the kid.

And then leave a giant steamer in the woods.; 2/23/13, 8:49 AM
Moose said...: Its really just "Bear goes on vacation".; 2/23/13, 8:50 AM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: Lem, once I accidentally checked the 'email follow-up comments' box at the bottom of the page. You might take a look to see if that's your problem.

Megan McArdle's article America's New Mandarins is all over the web including Insty. Fantastic at identifying the problem. My response would be to politely ignore these people (the new mandarins) as the ignorant provincials they are, if they hadn't tasked themselves with making policy to run my life for me.; 2/23/13, 9:09 AM
edutcher said...: Erika may be right (on this one, anyway).

If all the emails are for one post, that's probably it.

Joe Schmoe said...

Is Bob Woodward calling Obama a liar? 'Cuz it sounds like he's calling him a liar.

He is.; 2/23/13, 9:52 AM
edutcher said...: Erika may be right (on this one, anyway).

If all the emails are for one post, that's probably it.

Joe Schmoe said...

Is Bob Woodward calling Obama a liar? 'Cuz it sounds like he's calling him a liar.

He is.; 2/23/13, 9:52 AM
ricpic said...: What the storyline lacked in grit the animation made up for.; 2/23/13, 9:55 AM
Hagar said...: I think they are repeating the mistakes from the 1930's with just minor variations and should expect to get more or less the same results.; 2/23/13, 10:12 AM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: Hey Edutcher, u mad? No hard feelings, OK?; 2/23/13, 10:25 AM
edutcher said...: No, but you can go very wrong taking the She Devil of the SS as your touchstone.

I'm a very straight-ahead guy, terse almost to the point that I leave out some of the more important details.

If I was going in the direction you thought, there wouldn't have been any doubt in anyone's mind.; 2/23/13, 10:31 AM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: Now we're even in misreading each other, perhaps, as I pay very little attention to what you-know-who* has to say, and would never use her as my 'touchstone' or adopt her opinions on anything outside of, I dunno, nursing. I do enjoy her occasional wit, however. Anyway, to the point at hand, I've noticed your comments about Althouse personally have from time to time leaned affectionate rather than respectful--NTTAWWT, but it's odd because she takes a rather aloof tone with her readers which doesn't really inspire warmth and affection--NTTAWWT. I probably should apologize for saying your attitude toward her is creepy.

(don't say her name! It's like summoning Beetlejuice!); 2/23/13, 10:42 AM
bagoh20 said...: The ducks didn't like the bread because they have acquired a taste for vengeance meat, and the snail, well, they're a little slow.; 2/23/13, 10:50 AM
FleetUSA said...: Krugman would say the Bear video fits his thought of a backward Latvia.

MSM Dims always force the facts into their paradigm of life.; 2/23/13, 10:51 AM
edutcher said...: OK, this is what I meant by saying I can be terse.

I should have said, no, no hard feelings.

And the reason I am sometimes a little more familiar with Ann (and I realize there's a line there that she may not always want crossed) is that I have written to her and Meade on several occasions in which they have offered answers to questions that were helpful to me.

Nothing more.

Didn't mean to give the wrong impression.; 2/23/13, 10:53 AM
I Have Misplaced My Pants said...: I hear ya and I get ya. Cheers : ); 2/23/13, 11:08 AM
bagoh20 said...: Similar to Lem's issue, I've noticed that my online experience is being highly filtered lately, and I don't like it. I see the same ads all the time, and they are directly related to stuff I have Google alerts set for. These are not things I want to buy, just things I want to hear about if there is news. On Youtube, no matter what I search for, it's polluted with what they think I might like based on what I have watched before. I want to see new stuff, not the same thing over and over. It's really diminished my exploration. Google, I know how to do a search, don't try to think for me.; 2/23/13, 11:10 AM
tim maguire said...: Mr. Dutcher, I see you got a callout at Instapundit. Congratulations.; 2/23/13, 11:31 AM
edutcher said...: Thank you.; 2/23/13, 11:43 AM
Aridog said...: edutcher said...

Been waiting for a cafe to put this up ...

Actually, better late than never. Your comment sums up well various opinions mentioned here previously. The Investor's Business Daily summary is pretty comprehensive, as far as it goes...e.g., relatively current events.

Without debating who are yes-men and who aren't, there has been a pattern of casual reliefs or sudden retirements that is ominous. Among those not mentioned in the links is that of General Carter Ham of AFRICOM less than half way through the normal MACOM tour length, "coincidently" announced amid the Benghazi dust up.

When I said "as far as it goes" I mean specifically that this pattern of political manipulation of flag ranks goes back before Obama, to Bush 43's administration upon the arrival of Secretary of Defense Robert Gates. One of his first maneuvers was to not re-nominate USMC General Peter Pace for Chairman, Joint chiefs, allegedly because it would be too much of a fight in Congress over the re-nomination for a second term, the normal process.

Bullshit...he wanted to nominate a more pliable guy, and did so with Admiral Mullens, a Navy guy to oversee two land wars no less. There is a reason Obama kept Gates around...he was an Obama kind of guy.

Now in truth, going all the way back to my earliest military days in the late 60's, at least since Vietnam, there has been a practice within the senior military ranks of "ticket punching" with relatively short tours. Everybody it seems is a one battle hero now. No one serves for a duration, and when the rotation is a year or so, each new guy comes in looking to "make his mark"...then he leaves and the next new guy shows up. My experience, my opinion if you will, with that system is that it is inefficient and contributes to disasters more often than not.

Leslyn, a poster who comments here occasionally, said it this way when we were commenting back and forth elsewhere:

Maybe if we forced a general to stay there until he was successful or removed for incompetence, we’d have a unified command idea of just what we’re there to do, and a strategy to carry it out.

I agree with that assessment. It certainly could help decrease the "need" for the ridiculous 800+ flag rank officers we have to oversee a active force of 1.4 million, so to shrink, which at most requires no more than 300 flag ranks.

This very overabundance of generals and admirals makes it too easy for Obama to shuffle flag ranks whenever he pleases.; 2/23/13, 12:07 PM
edutcher said...: I've read in several places a great number of mid-level HQs could be removed in the name of cutting the budget and would be to the betterment of the service, so we have no argument.; 2/23/13, 12:23 PM
Aridog said...: edutcher .... why would we have any argument? I complimented your post as a succinct summary of what really is happening.

As for "Mid-level HQ's"...don't get me started, just suffice to say most of them could be eliminated and no one would notice any performance loss, more like performance would improve.

Don't hold any breath waiting for that to happen however.; 2/23/13, 1:16 PM
edutcher said...: Just saying I agree completely and have no quibbles.

This seems to be my week to be misconstrued.

And, no, it's nobody's fault but mine.; 2/23/13, 1:36 PM
Lem Vibe Bandit said...: It looks like you were right Erika.; 2/23/13, 4:34 PM
rcommal said...: And that's something else you aren't.

I'm not sure whether that refers to:

1) my lack of being a man

2) my lack of being perspicacious

3) my lack of skepticism

4) some combination of 1-3

Would you consider clarifying, in detail?; 2/25/13, 12:21 AM

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