Another must see video.  Thanks to Charlie Sykes.

Democrats are the majority party in Congress.  This means that if they want something to pass, all they need to do is vote for it.  Nancy Pelosi says that the Republicans are to blame for the bailout failure, because only one third of them voted to approve it.  Yet she only needed a few more votes for it to pass and nearly 100 Democrats voted against this package.  Sorry Nancy, this does not pass the common sense rule.  To top it off, she is the one that called for a vote knowing full well that they were short of the votes needed.  All morning and early afternoon the press said that they didn't have the votes. 

Barney Frank (the second coming of Elmer Fudd - has anybody listened to the way he talks?), Harry Reid and Pelosi have had their own agenda on this since the start.  First Reid says that the Democrats won't vote for anything unless McCain shows up to vote, then McCain calls his bluff and puts Country First to try and make sure that if something is done it gets done right, at which point Reid says don't come we don't need you.  The reason was they were trying to position Obama as the savior and leader.  Even during the big meeting at the White House, the other Democrats deferred to Obama so that he could show his leadership and take charge.  The Democratic leadership was appalled when he failed to do so.  Obama ready to lead?  There isn't one Democratic leader that thinks he is. 

Why does gas cost more in Southeast Wisconsin then elsewhere?  A quick drive across the Walworth County line from Waukesha County finds gas prices ten to twenty cents less per gallon.

The reason:  Reformulated Gas (RFG).  Sounds like it should be a good thing for our vehicles, and us like New and Improved Tide or Cap'n Crunch fortified with seven essential vitamins and minerals.  Then why does the result feel more like New Coke or reformulated Schlitz, both disastrously bad decisions?

The EPA's website and brochure on RFG tout the tremendous benefits of RFG.  Let's say that these benefits are absolutely true.  Why doesn't the whole country have to use RFG?  It would do so much more for the environment and the quality of our air if 100% of the population used it instead of just 30%.  Plus, if RFG were the only gas, then pricing for RFG would be less, because all producers would only have to produce one variety of what would now be called conventional gas.  Currently only some producers make RFG and it costs more for them to produce additional varieties of gas.

Are the benefits absolutely true?  At one time they may have been, but today conventional fuel is cleaner than it once was and vehicles are better engineered making RFG an unneeded burden on consumers.  The Journal Sentinel had an interesting story dealing with this earlier in the week.

Of course the biggest culprit for overall gas pricing being so high, are the idiots that won't let us drill for the oil that the US already owns. 

Growing up, I can remember friends telling me that they got their fireworks when they or somebody they knew were on their way back from vacation and purchased them in another state.  It was only a few years ago, that you would see the large, temporary tent along the expressway with a huge sign announcing the sale of fireworks.  Now you see a tent at almost every major intersection, and in some cases you may see five or six tents.

The number of these tents at one such intersection amazed us, when my son mentioned that he thought it was illegal to use fireworks.  We explained to him that while it may be illegal to use the fireworks, it was perfectly legal to sell them if you have the correct permit or license, and it is perfectly legal to buy them.  He didn’t understand why there were so many tents.  We explained to him about competition, supply and demand, and open markets and how these are the cornerstones on which our economy is built.  When he was younger this would have worked to end the line of questioning about something we could not explain, but those days are over.

How do you explain that it is completely legal to buy and sell fireworks, you just can’t use them?  Yet, there are so many people that get enjoyment from using them illegally that many intersections look like the circus is in town for most of the Summer. 

Simple Explanation:  Typical idiotic government bureaucrats. 

I don't have a problem with buying, selling or even the use of fireworks by reasonbly sober people in a safe enviornment.  But, do we really need this many tents?

Remember Alec Baldwin, the actor that promised to leave the country if Bush was elected?  Now the next "I think I'm an important person and people should listen to me" idiotic celebrity has uttered a similar promise.  Susan Sarandon has promised to move to Italy or Canada if Obama is not elected. 

Why wait?  Go now, and please take any other similarly clueless super egos with you.  Once again proving that some people are better at reading lines others have written for them (Obama), then saying what they think.

 Update on Alec Baldwin:  He never left, and he is doing quite well for himself.  Love his work on 30 Rock.  

I am a card carrying member of The Rules Don't Apply To Me Club.  I've removed the tags on my mattresses under penalty of law.  Yes, I have done other things that go against the rules, but since my kids may read this we won't get into details. 

During this current school year, the number of members in the club has been expanding and I'm afraid the results from the current membership drive are getting dangerous.  The group I'm concerned with for this article are those people that drop their children off for school in the morning in the parking lot at Park View Middle School in Mukwonago, so that they can avoid the line of cars waiting to drop students off at the school entrance.  They do this by exiting the parking lot onto Highway 83 and breaking the rules.

Now, I'm sure that these people have rationalized to themselves about how busy they are, or how late for work they will be or some other reason that allows them the right to do this.  They are surely much more important people than the rest of us.  Strangely, this isn't the reason that has me riled up against these VIPs.  The problem is that they are dropping their children off out in the parking lot and relying on their kids sense of survival and the alertness of both under and over caffeinated drivers to be on the lookout for them.  This is the tricky part, because there are already two lanes of cars dropping students off.  Once these two lanes drop off their children, the lanes merge and cross as cars jockey for position to get into the left turn or right turn lanes for exiting onto Hwy NN.  This is the same area where the kids are darting out between parked cars to cross to the school.  Damn lucky no one has been picked off yet, but recently there have been several close calls.

The school district could also do something to prevent this.  When the new flow pattern was developed, they put marks on the parking lot for the placement of cones or barriers that would prevent drivers from being able to get to that exit from the main lot.  Maybe they will have to resort to using those, hopefully before someone gets hurt.

Mukwonago High School has it's own set of members joining the club.  There are two lanes that run in front of the high school.  The right lane, which is next to the sidewalk is for drop offs.  The left lane is for cars that are going past the cars and buses dropping off.  The first set of anxious club members are the ones that stop all traffic and drop off from the left lane.  It helps to speed them on their way, because after all they are too important to be bothered with good sense.  The second group at the high school are the drivers that need to turn right onto Hwy NN, but don't want to wait in line with all the other cars that want to do the same thing, so they use the left lane, that has few if any cars, and cut in as both lanes make a left turn to head toward the intersection. 

Some of these actions by the members of The Rules Don't Apply To Me Club are putting lives in danger and some are just plain rude.  As the year has gone on, more and more idiots are following this disturbing trend, because they have seen enough people doing it that it must be OK.  Since their children are seeing all of this, we can probably expect that the next generation will fill the club.