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House Rules Chairwoman Louise Slaughter is weighing preparing a rule that would consider the Senate bill passed once the House approves a corrections bill that would make changes to the Senate version.  Read this post to The Corner, and then this one.

Now, never mind that House rules are supposed to set term for debate, not policy.

(Add that to your “never mind that Senate reconciliation is supposed to apply to budgetary matters, not policy.”)

Here it comes, ladies and gentlemen—Obamacare shoved right up your ass, without a drop of K-Y (or any of that pesky voting stuff).

The Democrats are about to pass “health care reform” without voting on it.

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This was Aaron’s first time playing organized basketball, and I’m proud of how well he did.  He really wants to get things right, and that includes protecting the ball when navigating up to take a shot.  (His coach told us he hadn’t taught him that, because “they’re not supposed to be able to get that at this age.”)  Well, that’s cool.  He watched Nathan a lot, and I don’t think Lea or I knew we weren’t supposed to be teaching him that.

Speaking of, we really appreciate the time and effort Coach Jimmy and Coach Holly put in.  They related to the boys marvelously, and the end product looked a lot more like a basketball game than did the beginning.

Couple of weeks off, and then on to spring soccer we go!

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Nah, I’ll stop.  After this post.

Arrested for public drunkenness in Owensboro, Kentucky, Toni Tramel thought it’d be a good idea (while she was changing into an inmate uniform) to give a sheriff’s deputy a face full of breast milk.  She’s now been charged with third-degree assault.

I was all set to call the charge ridiculous, because breast milk is sterile, right?  Felony assault?

I’m pretty sure I still think the charge is excessive, but it turns out there are several diseases an infected woman could potentially transmit through her milk.  So call it sterile in a healthy woman.

(The eternal 13-year-old in me still finds the alleged incident gloriously insolent.  I mean, that’s delivering the unexpected.)

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(Loved them being on stage with him this time, like they were going to grab him and head for a rubber room as soon as the speech was over.  “That was a very good speech, Barack!  Let’s go for a nice walk!”)

Anyway, it seems he was making an impassioned case for “health care reform.”  (Did you know he was interested in doing that?  It’s so hard to know what’s on our esteemed president’s mind.  He’s so shy and quiet.)

As reliably grounded and insightful as Mark Steyn usually is, I read a column of his several months ago that made me think he might be losing it.  Essentially, he said that he thought the Democrats might sacrifice the 2010 election to pass “health care reform,” spend a few years out of power, and their orgy of socialism would be waiting for them when they returned, because the Republicans wouldn’t have the stones to repeal it.

Having heard at the tender age of 17 from a smart man that an elected official’s top priority was getting reelected, and having reliably found in the intervening two-plus decades that almost all elected officials’ behavior was entirely consistent with that assertion, I thought Steyn was nuts.  No way would today’s bunch of nitwits fall on their swords for a bunch of anonymous nitwits at some unknown point in the near future.

Then Nancy Pelosi held up a ladle of delicious, refreshing grape Flavor Aid to her fellow Democrats.  Quoting this story:

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged her colleagues to back a major overhaul of U.S. health care even if it threatens their political careers, a call to arms that underscores the issue’s massive role in this election year.

Lawmakers sometimes must enact policies that, even if unpopular at the moment, will help the public, Pelosi said in an interview being broadcast Sunday the ABC News program “This Week.”  “We’re not here just to self-perpetuate our service in Congress,” she said. “We’re here to do the job for the American people.”

(Incidentally, when I Googled Nancy Pelosi just now to find that quote, one of Google’s guesses was “nancy pelosi breasts.”  What the hell is wrong with you people?)

And Mr. Steyn is hammering it again in this weekend’s column, and its plausibility and eminent reasonableness makes it a chilling read:

Republicans are good at keeping the seat warm. A bigtime GOP consultant was on TV crowing that Republicans wanted the Dems to pass Obamacare because it’s so unpopular it will guarantee a GOP sweep in November. Okay, then what? You’ll roll it back — like you’ve rolled back all those other unsustainable entitlements premised on cobwebbed actuarial tables from 80 years ago? Like you’ve undone the federal Department of Education and of Energy and all the other nickel ’n’ dime novelties of even a universally reviled one-term loser like Jimmy Carter? Andrew McCarthy concluded a shrewd analysis of the political realities thus: “Health care is a loser for the Left only if the Right has the steel to undo it. The Left is banking on an absence of steel. Why is that a bad bet?”

Why indeed?

If I had to commit one way or the other, I think I’d still say there aren’t enough members of Congress who will think that largely.  They’ll feel the pinch, and vote self-preservation.  Let’s hope so.  I think if we can get this omnibus nonsense turned back one more time, it’ll be enough for the foreseeable future.

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Many dedicated people work long and hard to make an Upward season happen, and I think the size of this one took a lot of people by surprise.  I’m extremely thankful for all of the volunteers’ efforts, and my meager contributions—an occasional coach sub or an afternoon in the kitchen—pale in comparison.

All of that said, the entertainer at this year’s season-end ceremony seemed a bit off to me.  He was a guitar-playin’, singin’, audience participationin’ sort of fellow.  Had us clapping, shaking hands, hugging, exercising, and stuff.  He had a bit with an imaginary friend named Larry.

Dig, all of that’s fine, but there was a subtle undercurrent of unmistakable weirdness about him.

Fortunately, I had a like-minded texting partner also in attendance.  (This is an exact transcript, apart from three <name redactions>.)

(begin text transcript)

Bo (10:09 AM):  I’m about to strangle the <redacted> boy.

BamaDan (10:11 AM):  Sleeper hold? Who’s the entertainer? Salome of the Mystic Feather Dance?

Bo (10:11 AM):  Marilyn Manson

BamaDan (10:13 AM):  Europe?  Where’s We’ve Got Spirit cheer?

Bo (10:20 AM):  FREEBIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIRD

BamaDan (10:22 AM):  Hey you were right.  It is Marilyn.  So Harvester of Sorrow isn’t an acceptable name for this song?

Bo (10:23 AM):  “He’s a Vengeful and Bloodthirsty Savior”

BamaDan (10:24 AM):  Sol Invictus didn’t roll off the tongue I guess.

Bo (10:27 AM):  The case for this guy being a raging fetishist is not a difficult one to make.

BamaDan (10:30 AM):  I’m contacting his parole officer and checking the Davidson County predator’s list.

Bo (10:36 AM):  “ok, now everyone take your shirts off!”

BamaDan (10:38 AM):  Is Larry in a leather gimp mask?

Bo (10:45 AM):  Are you almost done, Kevin?

Bo (10:46 AM):  I was going to hug <Stepford Mom #1> very thoroughly, but she evaded me.

BamaDan (10:49 AM):  Don’t take it personal – maybe if you were at more PTO mtgs?  This place needs a buffet table.

Bo (10:49 AM):  Feet, check.  Underwear, check.  Watersports, check.

BamaDan (10:51 AM):  Would it be yellow journalism to tell <Mrs. BamaDan> that the entertainment made kids play with his instrument?

Bo (11:01 AM):  Man, is that guy ever a blog post waiting to happen.  I think I shall refrain.

BamaDan (11:04 AM):  Ummm, why?  He’s gotta have a web page.  Deserves a link of love.  Making light of the yr end entertainment is a time honored tradition.

Bo (11:05 AM):  I’d be too mean.

BamaDan (11:06 AM):  Can never have too much of a good thing.

Bo (11:32 AM):  I don’t want a churchmate to happen upon it and think I’m unappreciative of the work someone did to find him.

(end text transcript)

And I don’t.  And I’m not.

But dude was weird.

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Do you know about this sport?  I’d never heard of it, and it’s been around most of a hundred years.  Essentially it’s four riders on 500cc, methanol-fueled motorcycles with no brakes and a single gear, sliding around a short track in a series of four-lap heats.

(I figure the heat structure is necessary because if these guys ran long races, no one would ever have a speedway career and there wouldn’t be any fans, because everyone would die doing it.)

The slicing and dicing in the corners is really something to see.  It’s almost balletic.  The ways in which the bikes can move in and around each other are surprising (and unpredictable, to an inexperienced watcher like me).

Even though most heats end without a crash, part of me is still shocked when they do.  (This heat does have one near the end, but it’s not bad.)

We saw it on Discovery HD Theater, so if you’re interested, watch for it there.

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Looks like it could be body disposal to me.  You ever see that Alfred Hitchcock Presents where Barbara Bel Geddes (Miss Ellie on Dallas) beats her husband to death with a leg of lamb, then cooks and serves it to the investigating police officers?

(Wow, those KitchenAid stand mixers are powerful.)

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And ooh, you can “SAVE $100″ on that one.  It’s normally $399.99, apparently.  You know, just a little tip there, for the value-conscious amongst us.  (cough)

Stuff like this gives me a little optimism. If this market is still there, then the economy could be worse.  Right?

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