"He doesn’t dispute the fact that people are buried on his land or that the area is steeped in Revolutionary significance..."

"... his vision for the IHOP involves a wait staff in tricorne hats and bonnets. But it was still a bit of a mystery exactly whose bones were buried on his property and who put them there. And, besides, if there really were hundreds of soldiers beneath the ground, Broccoli believed it to be self-evident that he was the one pursuing the vision of life, liberty, and happiness that George Washington’s troops had fought and died for: the right to sell pancakes where they were buried...."

From "The Battle of Fishkill/When Domenic Broccoli set out to expand his IHOP empire upstate, he didn’t expect to find a grave site — or start a war" (NY Magazine).

There's a misplaced modifier — "where they were buried" — but still, I like that passage. I love that a restaurant guy is named Broccoli, but he sells pancakes. And I love that it's IHOP — which is the first place that ever employed me and also iconic in the writings of David Sedaris. And Broccoli's opponents are colorful and sometimes dressed in Revolutionary War outfits.

"[T]here didn’t seem to be much common ground. Bob LaColla, who served as the town supervisor during much of L’Affaire Broccoli, told me it was a baffling situation defined by 'false allegations' and 'an avoidance of facts.'... A local Boy Scout leader, who has spent time with both Broccoli and the Friends, summed up the predicament by telling me that he knew only one thing for certain. 'They’re all full of shit,' he said. 'It’s just a matter of who’s more full of shit than the other.'"

Ah! The blog themes of this morning coalesce! We've got the lesser of 2 evils and shit.